The Past Is Back
by Xx3-Dark-Angel-3xX
Summary: Sequel to THE PAST WILL ALWAYS COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU. After 1500 years of searching, Chase has finally found what he has been looking for. But one "small" obstacle stands in his way. ChaseOC
1. Chapter 1

**The Past Is Back**

**Chapter 1**

Chase sat in his throne room awaiting the arrival of two of his most loyal and veteraned warriors. A man of Chinise descent and a Visigoth with blond hair entered the room. Both wore long black monk-like robes, the 'norm' attire for the elite in Chase's military.

"You called us Sire?" the one with black hair asked; both bowed at the waist as Chase answered.

"We are going on a little trip tonight."

Chase's two subordinates glanced at each other. "Exactly where are going?"

"New York City in the United States of America."

"But for what reason? A Sheng Gon Wu has not activated."

"An old friend has just arrived there and I plan on going to greet her," Chase replied with a sly smile. Today, a feline scouter had brought back the greatetst news that he'd heard in 1500 years. However, he was going to hide his precious news from everyone else for as long as possible. "But we will be going incognito. I want it to be a surprise."

Chase lazily waved his hand and two tigers appeared each carrying a bundle of clothes.

"These will be your new outfits while we're in New York. Are you in?"

"Of course we are Master Chase," the Visigoth replied and they both bowed.

"Good."

**- - IN NYC- -**

"Hello?" A young woman asked as she answered her phone. She was swinging around in her swivel chair attempting to waste away the last few minutes of work.

"_Guess what day it is,_" an excited voice said on the other line.

"Um...Its Friday?"

"_And what does that mean_?"

"Girls Night Out, of course! Come to my apartment at around 7. We're going to Club Apple!"

"_Okay, bye love_!

"Bye!"

"Aisha! What is the policy on personal calls?" a slightly stout woman in a brown skirt suit said with her arms crossed a scowl on her face. Her black hair was pulled back into a bun and her thick framed glasses sat at the edge of her round nose.

"One personal call a day," the young woman known as Aisha recited dully. Her curly dark brown hair was pulled over her shoulder and into a low side ponytail.

"And how many calls have you had today?"

"Well that last one shouldn't count because my friend called me. And the one before that was --"

"_How many_?" the woman repeated irritatedly.

"Three, but come on Racheal! Its not like I haven't gotten any work done! I mutli-task all day!"

"Aisha, one call is one call. No exceptions. Now if I catch you again I'm going to start docking your pay."

"You'll dock my pay?! I only get paid 9- something an hour. What's there to dock?!" Aisha replied shrilly.

"I'll find something. Oh yeah, we got some new claims in today," Racheal said taking a stack of folders and papers and placing them on Aisha's desk.

"Are you joking? When am I supposed to do these?"

"I don't know, but it won't be today 'cause I don't pay people overtime."

"What's this have to do with overtime?" Aisha asked.

"Its almost 6 'o clock. Your butt should've been out of here like half-an-hour ago," Racheal replied as she walked to the reception desk.

"Oh snap!" Aisha exclaimed as she grabbed her purse and keys. "I'm out! See you Monday!" And she ran for the elevator.

"When is she gonna finally realize that this happens almost _every_ Friday?" the receptionist wondered.

"The same day that she realizes that there is no policy on personal calls. But don't worry, she's a newbie you all went through the same things when you were new here. All she has to do is stick with us for another month and all of the needless harassment will be over," Racheal replied. "Well, it was a helluva alot of fun while it lasted."

**- -LATER THAT NIGHT- -**

"So Aisha, which lucky boy has caught your eye tonight?" Erica asked, attempting to be heard over the music.

"And exactly what does that mean?" Aisha replied.

"Whatever you interpret it to mean."

The two were at the bar of the lively Club Apple. It was dark except for the lighted bar counter and the red, green, and golden strobe lights.

Aisha wore a short-sleeved black shirt dress that stopped at her mid-thigh and black strappy heels that tied at her ankles. Her best friend Erica had on a pair of black high-waisted shorts and a berry purple t-shirt with matching pumps. Her dark chocolate arms glistened with gold braclets.

"Well, it seems as though you've caught someone's eye already," Erica stated and then took a sip of her pink, slushie drink.

"Really? We just got here like ten minutes ago," Aisha replied.

"That doesn't mean anything. Men look out for anything with two legs and a pair of boobs the second they walk through the door. And why the hell is that guy keep winking at me?! Does he have a frickin' twitch or something?"

"Who?" Aisha asked, the two were turned in their stools facing eachother.

"That guy with the Red Sox cap. Over there."

"With the - wait...Is his hair _green_?"

"Yep."

"Mm...he's not your type." Erica rolled her eyes. "So where's the guy you were telling me about earlier."

"Okay," Erica started as she turned to face the bar; Aisha turned too, "Don't look now, but he's sitting over where the bar curves to the right. The one with long black hair and black shirt with a gold tie."

Just as she finished saying that, a bartender placed a tall glass filled with a yellow liquid in front of Aisha.

"Its from that guy over -" the bartender informed pointing to the other side of the bar counter at an empty seat. "Weird, he was there a second ago. Oh well, enjoy."

"It must be from him?" Erica gasped in excitement.

"From who?"

"The guy I was telling you about! But he's not there anymore. Doesn't matter, what'd he get you?"

"You do realize that you're more excited about this than I am, right?"

"Just drink the damn thing already! The suspsense is killing me."

"All right! Calm down," Aisha repled with a smile. She brought the drink's straw to her lips and took a long sip. "This is so good!"

"Great, now what is it?" Erica asked impatiently.

"It kinda tastes like mangoes which is weird 'cause I love mangoes."

"Now if he isn't a good guesser, he's probably stalking you."

"That's _so _reassuring Erica."

"I'm just saying, it's always a possiblity," she said shrugging her shoulders.

"And how can he be stalking me? I still haven't seen this guy yet."

"...Um...because he might be a _stalker_. And the stalked hardly ever know who their stalker is until they realize they're being stalked. And by then its usually too late."

"Okay, I'm confused. Are you trying to set me up with this guy or are you trying to keep me away from him? 'Cause you're succeeding with the latter."

"Hmm, I think I see someone I might know," Erica stated quite loudly and sarcastiaclly. "I'm gonna go over to say 'Hi'. Aisha stay here, I'll be back."

"Erica, what are you talking about?"

"Mystery Guy at your 10 'o clock. Have fun!" Erica whispered in her ear and disappeared into the club scene.

"Erica!" Aisha called. But just then she felt a hand on her shoulder. From what she could tell, it was a man with long dark hair and a golden tie.

"Is this seat taken?" the man asked.

"Uh...no. You can sit there."

"Thanks," he said and turned to order a drink from the bartender.

"No problem." Now that he was right in front of her, Aisha could get a good look at the man that Erica was telling her about. He looked about her age and his skin was a nice beigey-cream color. The next thing Aisha noticed about him was his smile. Even in the lighting that is in a club, she was positive that each of his teeth were perfectly white and she found his unusually pointy canines kinda cute.

"What? Do I have something in my teeth?" he smiled as he turned back to her.

"Oh no, no, no. Your teeth are perfect. I was just admiring them." Aisha's lips parted into a huge smile, mostly from embarrassment.

"Thank you. I like your smile too." Aisha smiled even more at this. "So did you like the drink I sent you?"

"Oh, that was from you?" she asked in mock surprise. "Yeah, I love it! But what is it?"

"I'm not exactly sure what it's called, but its made from mangoes, rum, and sugar."

"I knew it! But how'd you know that I love mangoes?"

"I didn't know," the man shrugged with his natural coy smile, "Lucky guess?"

"Mmhm," Aisha sounded suspicously as she sipped her drink. "Do you know a girl named Erica?"

He was confused by her question, "No, why?"

"Oh nothing, I was just wondering...Just pretend that I never asked that."

"Um...alright?"

"So what made you want to send me a drink?" Aisha asked quite bluntly.

"Hmm, I'd have to say that it was your eyes that made me notice you."

"My eyes?"

"Yes, your eyes are a wonderful shade of lavender."

"Uh...thanks? I got them from 1-800-CONTACTS," she laughed. "What about yours?"

"They were...a gift," he smiled, the answer seemed ladened with hidden meanings. "But still, they're nice on you. Very...unique."

"Wow, you probably aren't from around here."

"Is it that obvious?"

"Haha, very," Aisha replied. "Exactly where are you from? I can't really place the accent."

"I was born in Korea, but I have been living in China for a while now."

"I honestly would have never guessed that. Your English is better than mine. Its so...formal."

"Formal education just might make a person quite formal in one way or another."

"Yeah, I guess it might."

"So what about you?"

"Well, I've lived in New York for most of my life, mostly on Long Island though. But I've spent some time in Spain with my mom and in India with my dad."

"You probably can't stand traveling now."

"Actually, its just the opposite. I absolutely love traveling. I don't know why, but its just so...invigorating and--"

"Babe! You made it!" A man broke his way from the crowd towards Aisha and wrapped his arms around her. She just let the seemingly drunken man fall on her and rolled her eyes. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

"Its good to see you too Rio, but I just saw you yesterday."

"A day, forever...What's the difference? Either way, I haven't seen your pretty face in more than eight hours."

"Come off it Rio. We aren't dating anymore, remember?"

"So what? It isn't like that's ever stopped us from having --"

"Oh right! I'm sorry," Aisha said to the man she was talking to to keep Rio from finishing his sentence. "This is Ilario, a friend of mine. Ilario, this is...I'm sorry, but I never got your name."

"I'm Chase Young," he replied and held out his hand. "And you are?"

"I'm Aisha. Aisha Katar," Aisha replied and shook his hand. Something about his name was ringing a distant bell in her mind, it was so familar, but she just couldn't figure out what it was.

"Aisha," Chase repeated with a smile, "that's a lovely name."

"Thank you."

"Aisha, I got people waiting for us. Let's go," Ilario said.

"It was nice to meet you Aisha. Maybe we will run into each other again," Chase said as Aisha stood up from her seat.

"Yeah, maybe," she replied as Ilario pulled her into the crowd and disappeared.

Chase's smile turned into a smirk, he found the information that he needed. He had finally found Aisha, even though she obviously didn't remember him, he still found her. He remained at the bar for a while, deliberating on his next move. He could stay at the club and keep an eye on her, but he worried about what he might find out about his Aisha. It had been 1500 years, and a person could change _alot_ in that amount of time...

**- -THE NEXT MORNING- -**

_"I'm a D-diva! I'ma-I'ma D-diva! I'ma-I'ma D-diva! I'ma-I'ma D-diva!"_ rang through the silence of the New York apartment for the twentieth time that morning.

Chase growled at the sound of the ringtone, it was so God-damned annoying! He wanted the 'music' to stop but he couldn't get to the phone, it was somewhere in her pockets. And he, being the gentleman that he was, didn't want her to wake up to him frisking her.

But deprerate times called for desperate measures. To his surprise he was able to find the girl's phone with realitive ease in the inside pocket of her jacket.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Who is this? Where's Aisha?! Where are you?! If you don't tell me where you are right now, I'm gonna have the cops hunt your ass down. Better yet, I'll just show up and cut you myself - !" Chase hung up on the ranting woman. It was still too early in the morning and she was much too loud.

The phone rang again. "Have you calmed down enough to let me explain?"

"...."

"I'll take that as a yes," Chase continued. "Right now I am in apartment 4D on 140 East 52nd Street."

"Got it," the woman replied, clearly aggitated.

"And there is no need to call the police. Aisha is safe."

"Put her on the phone."

"She's asleep right now, I don't think that's the best ide- "

"Put Aisha on the phone!" she yelled and Chase growled in annoyance as he put the phone to Aisha's ear. "Aisha Juliana Katar! Wake the hell up!"

"...Five more minutes..." Aisha mumbled and rolled away from the phone onto the floor.

"I know a song that gets on everybody nerves, everybody's nerves, _everybody's nerves_! I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves and this is how it goes! I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's ner- !" the woman belted out through the phone.

"_Okay_! Hell! I'm up! I'm up!" Aisha shouted as she took the phone. "Just shut up already!"

"I'll be there in five minutes."

"Five minutes? Where are we going? Did we have plans that I forgot about?"

"Aisha, you're not home. I'm coming to get you."

"What'd'you mean I'm not home. I just fell off my cou- Woah! Who are you and why are you in my apartment?" Aisha said as she noticed that Chase was there.

"You- "

"Hey! You're that guy from last night at the bar! Um...Kyle? No...Shane? No..."

"Chase."

"Yes! You're Chase Young! Why are you in my apartment?"

"You don't remember last night, do you?" Chase asked as he leaned forward against the back of the couch, clearly amused.

"Last night...Did I bring you home with me? I brought you home with me didn't I? Erica! I brought a guy home with me again! What do I do?"

Erica sighed on the other end of the line, "Aisha, calm down. I'm already in the building give me two minutes."

"What? Erica! No!" Aisha whined, but Erica had already hung up.

"Are you finished?" Chase asked.

Aisha took a deep breath in, "Yes."

"Firstly, this is my apartment. You asked me for a ride home last night after you couldn't find your friend. But you failed to tell me where you lived, so I brought you here," he explained and Aisha let out an 'oh' sound as she realized that she was in fact not in her own apartment. "And secondly, should I be offended by the fact that you didn't remember my name?"

Aisha smiled from embarassment as she stood up from the floor, "No, you shouldn't be offended. I'm recovering from hangover-like symptoms, I forget things from the night before."

"It also makes it impossible to wake you up."

"Oh no, I'm like that every morning," Aisha smiled and Chase laughed.

"Well then thirdly, what was that about bringing a guy home again? You seemed quite alarmed. Isn't that what you New Yorkers normally do?"

"Well I don't know about most of the population of New York City, but yes, that is how the media plays up New York City life," Aisha explained. "And considering that I pretty much don't know you at all and I really shouldn't be sharing this with you, I will anyway. The last time I brought I guy home we started dating and our relationship, well at least from his view, had evolved into one that we should be living together. This was after 3 months of dating. He started staying over more and more often until the point where it seemed like he was actually living at my place. It was possibly the worst experience of my life! That man was such a bum."

"Doesn't someone usually end up dead or the couple gets married and lives happily ever after?"

"Well thankfully neither of those happened to me." That's when the doorbell rang and Chase went to answer the door.

"Erica I presume?" he asked the hazel-eyed, dark skinned woman before him.

"Chase?" she answered and Chase stepped from in front of the door to let her pass. "Aisha, what is wrong with you? You went home with a stranger! How many times must we go through this?"

"I know! I know! I'm sorry! But I lost Rio and I couldn't find you and I recognized Chase's face, so I asked him for a ride!"

"You were drunk weren't you?"

"I don't get drunk! And especially not last night!" Aisha shouted defensively. "No man was rich enough for me to get drunk anyway."

"Do I even want to know what that means?" Chase asked.

"It means no one could get her 21 shots of Tequila, 2 bottles of wine, 3 bottles of vodka, a pasta bowl's worth of rum, and 4 six packs of beer," Erica explained.

"I could definitely down more than that but we ran out of money when we were testing it," Aisha stated.

"Are you serious?" Chase asked.

"You should see it for yourself. She can out-drink any 6-foot something, 300 pound man any day."

"Well that's a challenge I wouldn't mind taking on," Chase said.

"Any time, anywhere. As long as you provide the alcohol."

"At this rate Aisha, you won't have a liver," Erica sighed. "Let's get out of here."

"Don't worry about my liver, she's just fine." Aisha defended. "Well, thank you for dealing with me last night, Chase. Maybe we'll see more of eachother."

Chase went to open the door for them. "We definitely will," he replied as the two women left his apartment.

**- - - IN THE HALLWAY - - -**

"Hey Erica, do all the hallways in city apartment buildings look alike?" Aisha asked as she and Erica walked to the elevator.

"Not always. Why?"

"Because this hallway looks exactly like mine." Aisha stated when they stepped into the elevator.

"Oh my God...You're right," Erica said as the elevator doors closed and they began their descent to the first floor.

The two women stayed in the elevator when the doors opened to the main level.

"Can we go to the second floor?"

"Sure..." And the doors closed again and reopened on the second floor.

Aisha stepped out and walked down the hall to a door with "2G" engraved on a small bronze plaque. She took a key out of her jacket pocket and tried to unlock the door.

"Oh my _God_!" Erica exclaimed in a hushed whisper.

"He lives two floors above me!" Aisha whispered back as the door to her apartment opened.

* * *

**HELLO EVERYBODY!!! I'm Back and summer isn't even over yet!!!! This is the first chapter to the sequel of **The Past Will Always Come Back to Haunt You **with the very simple and unimaginative title: **The Past Is Back. **I actually find this story alot harder to write than the first one, but whatever, writing in the 21st Century time period should be easy.**

**THANKS FOR THE LOVING SUPPORT OF YOUR REVIEWS/COMMENTS!!!!!!!!**

**SEE YOU IN CHAPTER 2!! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**So I managed to get this up in a somewhat timely fashion. ENJOY AND REVIEW PLEASE!!!!!**

* * *

**The Past Is Back**

**Chapter 2**

Chase threw himself on his sofa with a heavy sigh. His goal was going to be harder for him to reach than he thought. Aisha not remembering him was definitely _not_ part of his infallible plan.

_'There is still the chance that she is playing one of her little games. She could be pretending to not recognize me..."_ Chase thought. _'...Nonsense. It has been fifteen hundred years...there is a strong possibility that she actually doesn't remember anything...But no matter, whether or not she did forget, winning her back should be no problem at all.'_

- -SUNDAY MORNING: AISHA'S APARTMENT- -

_* DING-DONG!*_

Aisha barely heard the doorbell ring when she stepped out of the shower.

"It's open!" she shouted as she dried herself off. "You're way early as always. But that's great because I need you to help me pick out something to wear. Except it seems like my clothes. . .dis-. . .appeared. . ."

As she made her way towards the door, she finally got a good look at her guest.

"I wouldn't mind helping you get dressed," Chase smirked at her towel-wrapped body.

"What are you doing here?!" Aisha exclaimed hugging her towel closer to her body.

"Oh right. I meant to give this to you yesterday but I forgot," Chase replied handing her a few envelopes. "I somehow ended up with some of your mail in my box."

"Oh thanks," Aisha replied. God it was such an embarrassing situation. _'I just let this hot guy walk into my apartment when I'm in just a towel without even checking to see who it was first. I most look stupid or something.'_

"Do you always leave your door unlocked?"

"Um, not always. Only when I'm expecting my friend."

"Then I should stop by when your friend comes over more often."

A draft was starting to pickup in the apartment from the open door. "Sure, maybe if you call first," Aisha said as she tried to push him back to the hallway.

However Chase's rock hard body wasn't going anywhere. "But I don't even have your number."

"I walked right into that one didn't I?"

"Yes you did."

"Will you leave if I give you my number?"

"Only if its your real number."

"Alright," Aisha said and grabbed a pencil and post-it from her kitchen counter. "Here. Now you can go on your merry way."

"But I was serious about helping you get dressed."

Aisha let out a small laugh. This man was bold; very bold. "You're bold."

"I'll be back if this isn't your real number."

"Don't worry. You won't be," she smirked.

"Oh and by the way. Nice tattoos," Chase commented as he backed into the hallway.

"What-- I don't have any tattoos!" Aisha called down the hall.

"Sure you don't," he replied and disappeared around the corner.

Aisha stayed in her doorway staring down the empty hall for a few more moments. That tattoo comment really bothered her. She was definitely one for taking risks, but tattoos had never been her thing. . .Well, except for that one time in that one particular past life. . .

But anyway, that little comment caused her great alarm and fear. She couldn't exactly put her finger on it, but something about him made her feel as though she was in some type of danger. It was like she was something's prey that was once safely hiding, and then all of a sudden her predator found her. She grabbed her phone and began to dial her mother's number but then she stopped. _'Wait, now what would Mamma do in this situation?. . . She would panic and I would never see Chase and the light of day ever again.'_

Aisha deleted the numbers and inserted Erica's instead; but she paused again. _'Hmm, now what would Erica do if I called her?. . . She would panic and call my mother and then I definitely would never see the light of day again. . .'_

This whole ordeal was becoming quite a problem. Besides the fact that she was able to twist a simple false comment into something equal to a death threat, she had no idea what to do about it and she had no one to turn to.

"Oh God, this is bad. This is really bad." Despite the bad vibes Chase had given her, Aisha enjoyed being around him. . . well, all two times that they had seen each other were enjoyable anyway. Even just now when he appeared in her apartment completely unannounced, she was kind of glad he came.

"The complete and utter surrealness if this is definitely a sign from God that I should stop going to clubs and meeting guys," Aisha noted as she paced around her living room. She was starting to feel the beginnings of one of her panic attacks.

_* DING-DONG!*_

But the doorbell broke her anxiety's hold over her.

"Who is it?" Aisha asked after a slight pause.

"It's me! I can't believe you actually locked the door this time," Erica called from the hall.

Aisha was suddenly filled with relief when she opened the door to see her best friend, "You know me, 'Little Miss Paranoid'."

". . . Actually, no. That doesn't describe you at all. That's more like your anti-you."

"Well you know what, I'm going to turn over a new leaf. From now on I will _try_ to be more cautious of myself, my surroundings, and everything that I do." She replied as she made her way to her bedroom.

_'Yeah right_,'Erica thought and stepped into the apartment and closed the door.

"Starting with what I'm going to wear to day."

"But you've always been fashion conscious. Starting with deciding what you're gonna wear to church isn't that big of a change for you."

"Baby steps Erica. . . I'm takin' baby steps."

- -LATER THAT DAY: CHASE'S APARTMENT- -

Chase returned to his apartment to find his two loyal warriors waiting in the living room and the heavenly smell of double fudge brownies floating from the kitchen.

"You brought her here quickly," Chase commented. This was the first time that Chase had been back in his apartment in two days since Aisha woke up on his couch. For the rest of that day (Friday) and all of Saturday, he was out putting the final touches on his "business". He had even stayed away from his citadel for the last few weeks as he adjusted to the New York lifestyle once he found out that Aisha was alive.

"We only did as you asked," Li-liang, the Chinese man responded.

"And she's been keeping herself busy since we got her here," Elonzo the Visigoth added. "Once she understood the new oven she's been baking like a fiend."

"_Abidah_? Is that you?" A little voice asked from the kitchen.

It came from the only thing left in this world that was able to make Chase feel the closest thing to joy that he possibly could for the last 1500 years. "Yes it is me _Ae Cha_."

"Abidah! I made you brownies!" A little dark haired girl exclaimed as she skipped into the living room with a plate covered in fresh brownies and a young tiger entering right behind her. "Try one!"

Chase tasted a brownie to appease his adopted daughter.

"So do you like it?" The girl asked as she swayed back and forth on her heels in anticipation.

"Mhmm," Chase replied with the brownie in his mouth and took the whole plate with him to the black leather couch to devour the rest of them.

The little girl giggled as she went back to the kitchen. A few moments later she returned with a tray of two more plates of brownies and 4 glasses of milk. She placed them on the glass coffee table and gave Elonzo and Li-liang each a plate. Then she grabbed a glass of milk for herself and curled up next to Chase on the couch, nibbling on one of his brownies.

"So did you see her today?" The girl asked as she flipped through the channels on the large flat screen TV.

"Yes I did," Chase answered.

The girl paused her channel-searching. Even though she knew the answer to her question, the news that her mother had been found still shocked her a little bit. It was about fifteen-hundred years since she'd seen her. She gazed up at her father, "What does she look like?"

Chase turned to her, her large hazel eyes still full of the wondrous innocence of any child, even after all this time. "She looks exactly the same; her hair is a few inches shorter, but otherwise she's still Aisha. Her eyes are still lavender and her bangs are still covering that little ruby on her forehead." He tugged gently on the girl's own bangs with a corner of a smile. The girl's face brightend with a smile of her own.

It was quite a coincedence that her name happened to be Kiara. Chase later found out (after Aisha's dissapearance) that her name meant "bright" in Latin; and bright she was. Over the years, Chase took an interest in her education, especially when he realized how quickly she learns things. Her mind was like a sponge for anything and everything that Chase would teach her, and she enjoyed learning. According to modern standards, she could technically teach any college-level course in every science, history, literature, and mathematical major out there. Not to mention the 20 languages she was fluent in.

He even helped her develop her telepathy to the point where she can now move objects with her mind. The immense amount of time they spent together as teacher and pupil inevitably changed into a father-daughter-like relationship. Kiara was the only person Chase ever allowed to get as close to him as Aisha had.

"Can I meet to her?" Kiara asked eagerly.

"I'm afraid not Ae Cha. A little problem has surfaced," Chase said with all seriousness. "It seems that she doesn't remember us. Well, she doesn't remember _me_ at least."

"Can I at least get a glimpse of her?"

". . . Maybe. There might be a way to make that possible. . ."

Kiara was satisfied with that answer and turned her attention to the TV; it was on the _Food Network _channel,her favorite. "So you've spoken to her right?"

"I even managed to get her phone number."

"Really?" Kiara gasped and her eyes widened in amazement. "Oh! Can we call her? Can _I _call her? No, wait, that won't work. She might not know who I am. . ."

Chase just observed in silence as Kiara began to work out some elaborate plan. She had a complete grasp and understanding of the world so that talking to her was, many times, like talking to an adult in a small body. She was also very a very tatical person, although she did have Aisha's tendency of rushing into things head first along with her ability to become easily excited.

"Maybe, maybe I can call her and pretend to be your little niece. A typical, curious 8-year-old who went through your pockets one day and found her number. And then I can finally hear her voice again! Then you can take the phone away and apologize for my childish ways and then you two can have a lovely conversation about life. Then ask her out for lunch one day this week and you guys can talk even more! And within a couple of months she'll either remember you or fall in love all over again; because there's no way that niether of those possibilities are impossible. Then you guys can _finally_ get married and give me lots of brothers and sisters! Oh its perfect!" Kiara finished with a heavy exhale. She was now standing on the couch after all of her pacing while the three men in the room were choking on their brownies when the word "marriage" was mentioned.

Li-liang regained his composure first, "That sounds like a wonderful plan and everything Lady Kiara, but how do you know it will work?"

"It is what my mother always wanted. I _know_ that it will work."

"It doesn't mean that she'll get it," Chase replied harshly as he turned his attention to the television and began another brownie.

"What he _means_," Elonzo started, "is that you can never know exactly how things will happen."

"That and you know how he feels about marriage." Li-liang added.

Kiara looked at her adoptive father as he silently watched TV (but everyone knew that he wasn't paying attention to it). "Maybe he'll change his mind this time. Abidah wouldn't risk losing her a second time."

"You all talk about me as though I'm not here," Chase said; he was trying to think but it wasn't getting anywhere with their babbling. "Kiara, go check to see if your grandmother knows that Aisha is alive." Kiara nodded and placed her hand on Elonzo's shoulder and the two disappeared from the apartment; leaving just Li-liang and Chase.

He could barely remember the last itme he had seen Isabella. _'Last I heard, she was to be banished for a few centuries. . . for the seond time since I had known her. . . but that was ages ago. And she hasn't made contact with us in several decades. . . Shit! She's known something for a while now.'_ Chase thought with increasing anger as he realized what he missed.

"Do think Aisha's mother knows something?" Li-liang asked.

"I think that she's known _everything_ this whole time," Chase answered.

* * *

**So now we know that Kiara is alright. She hasn't even aged, but I'll let you all in on what happened during the past few centuries in the next chapter. Hopefully that'll be around Thanksgiving. But we'll see, with school and all.**

**I HOPE IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT!!! SEE YOU LATER!!!**


	3. Chapter 3

**So I forgot to mention last time: **_**Abidah**_** is a name meaning "wise father" in Hebrew and **_**Ae Cha**_** is a name that means "love and daughter" in Korean. I felt that after spending some 15oo years together, Chase and Kiara needed nicknames for each other.**

* * *

**The Past Is Back**

**Chapter 3**

The first few centuries without Aisha were quite difficult for Chase, his world almost quite literally flipped upside down. The first year was definitely the worst.

After they left, Chase ordered an immediate search to be made for them in any and every direction; they could have ended up anywhere and he wasn't going to take any chances. The moment that his warriors reached Aisha's hometown was the moment that Chase officially lost it.

The warm, lively village had been reduced to a gray, smoldering ghost town in the two days since he was last there. There was no one and nothing except for the remains of burnt, destroyed homes and piles of wet ash.

A cold, gut-wrenching feeling of panic began to rise within Chase as his eyes quickly flashed across the scene before him. His mind refused to let him believe the fears that his missing heart would have been feeling. He began to rampage through the empty town. He kicked down and checked behind every door he came across as he made his way towards the center of the village.

About halfway through, a stiff breeze picked up from the east that caused a familiar scent to pass by and made Chase halt in his destruction. The precious scent led him to yet another ransacked house. Even though the entire town had a cold, eerie feeling to it, the house that Chase had entered felt ten times worse.

In the dark main room, what was left of the scorched table was tossed aside with one of the legs broken; a teacup was knocked over and cracked. And her scent was everywhere, it was almost too overwhelming.

Chase walked across the room and peered into the kitchen, to find everything in it on the floor and destroyed. On the floor he saw a small pile of blue dust. He picked up a little between his fingers, tasted it, and let the rest it fall back down onto the floor.

_'Dragon scales . . . So at least Déjà made it here,'_ he thought. _'But Aisha. . . This is her house so of course her scent would be everywhere. There must something that would let me know that she got here. . .'_

He turned back into the main room and walked towards Aisha's bedroom. The door was ripped from its hinges and lay crushed and dented on her bed. Chase stepped into the room and observed the chaos.

Everything was everywhere: the curtains were hanging out of the window; her bed linens were thrown across the room. The dressers were turned over and emptied of their contents; but the clothes themselves were missing.

_'Who would take her clothes . . .?'_ Chase wondered as he squatted in front of the toppled furniture to inspect it. His eyes scanned the rest of the floor and rested on a small dark object. He went over to pick it up and realized that it was a piece from the black shirt Aisha was wearing when she left. It was still warm, as though it had just come off of her body . . . and wet. . .

Chase moved the cloth from his right hand to his left and saw it covered in a red liquid.

He refused to believe what he was seeing as a thumping sound that gradually grew louder and faster echoed in his ears. He looked to the floor and saw more of the red liquid first in random drops that then turned into smears on the walls and then stains on the bed.

Chase's body felt cold, the thumping persisted, and now a high pitched screech of pain sounded between his ears that made him shut his eyes closed.

When he opened them again, a scene full of mostly transparent people played out before him.

About six of them fumbled into the room by breaking in through the door; five brawly men wearing animal skins and one woman who was either thrown or kicked in.

Chase could immediately tell that the woman on the floor was Aisha and she was holding her stomach as she sat up from the floor.

_"I'm gonna ask you again: _Where is he?_"_ one of the men said.

_"And once again, I don't know who you're looking for."_ Aisha insisted and wiped blood away from her mouth.

_"You insolent woman!"_ The man shouted as he picked Aisha up by her shirt and threw her against the wall where Chase was standing. Blood from her head smeared on the dented wood as she slid from the wall. Her head rolled to the left to Chase and rested there, unconscious.

It pained Chase to watch his first and final love being thrown around when he knew that there was nothing he could do. He was now just a spectator to something from the past that was being replayed for him.

_"She is no use to us now. We should just kill her,"_ a new voice from the men said.

_"No, she isn't dead. Take her with us, when she awakes she'll tell us where Chase Young is."_ The first man replied.

_"But how can you be sure? It is better that we leave him with her body dead then take her when we don't even know if she is alive."_ The second man reasoned.

_"Do you really want to leave him with something Bach?! Then fine!"_ The first man growled and ripped off the lower part of Aisha's shirt and tossed it in a corner. _"Now he can find us when he gets here. Get the girl and let's go."_

_"Axel! He's here!"_ a voice from outside called.

The man named Axel hesitated before making his next move. He knew that he should leave now before Chase found them but he also wanted to fight him as soon as possible. _"Fine let us retreat . . . For now."_

And with that all of the men disappeared into a black wisp of smoke with Aisha.

Chase's fear turned to rage once the scene was gone. Who dared to seek revenge against him? _"And if he wanted my attention, he didn't have to destroy a whole town to do so . . . And _Aisha_! What was she thinking?! She didn't need to protect me! She knew better!'_ His mind shouted as he made his way back outside of the house and to his warriors.

_"And now I have to hunt down and kill the bastards behind this." _And with that, a new search had begun.

------------------------PRESENT DAY--------------------------

It had been two weeks since Aisha had met Chase and he has called her all of three nights since she had given him her phone number. And in just those three phone conversations, it was obvious that he wanted to be more than acquaintances; even possibly more than friends; but she knew that she wasn't ready for a serious relationship; her little flings were quite literally keeping her alive.

But even though she knew that she didn't want to be anything more than friends with Chase, it still bothered her that he had only called _three times_. His excuse was that his job took up a lot of his time, which is why they could only talk at night for five hours once a week instead of one hour every other day.

"I don't understand. If you don't like the man, then why does it bother you that he doesn't call you very often?" Erica asked.

"First, I never said I didn't like him, I'm just not ready for a solid relationship."

"It's not that you're not ready, you just choose the way you live your life now."

"Can we please not start talking about how completely unethical my life is right now. I don't have the time; I only have a few more minutes until my break is over."

"Yeah and my boss has been giving me funny looks for the last half hour. I'll talk to you later. Don't do anything that I wouldn't do."

Aisha smiled at this, "Don't worry...I already have."

"...You crazy slut. Behave yourself before I tell your mother."

"I love you too! Bye!" Aisha laughed into the phone before she hung it up; Erica's name-calling always made her laugh. Her smile stayed on her face as she walked into her office's building and all the way to the elevator. She had no remorse for what she did to stay alive. In her mind, it was a lot better than having to kill people all the time.

_'And Mama probably wouldn't even be surprised if she found out. She is in almost the same predicament, except she lives in a pretty rural area where she can eat all the raw animals she wants; but still, almost the same predicament,_' Aisha convinced herself.

Aisha made it all the way to the eleventh floor and was greeted by her company's receptionist when she walked in.

"Glad you made it back," the woman behind the counter smiled.

"Yes Diane, I got you a Crunch Bar," Aisha teased as she pulled a Crunch Bar from her jacket pocket. "And this time it's not melted."

It was late August and the first few weeks were obnoxiously hot; and all of a sudden, today it was cold.

"YAY!!!" the blonde receptionist called Diane squealed and took the Crunch Bar.

Aisha just shook her head and laughed as she went to her cubicle and returned to punching numbers into her calculator.

She worked in an accounting firm; it was a job she had always wanted to try. It was just that she was so surprised at how boring it was. She wasn't expecting something amazingly exciting; the job just wasn't even remotely fulfilling. As a result she would often find her self leaning against one of the many glass windows of the office, staring out on the city below and reminisce. This is exactly where she realized she was for the last hour after her break.

"Aisha look constructive! We have important people coming soon," Rachael called from across the office floor. This woke Aisha up from her day dreaming.

"What? Who's coming?" she asked as she moved to her cubicle.

"Our potential new boss. Some people from China are looking to invest in our New York Office."

"China? There's no way that The Company is that renowned."

"Well it is. So keep yourself looking busy. Help make a good impression." Rachael said as she walked back to the reception area.

So Aisha procrastinated the next hour-and-a-half away by playing and winning solitaire on her computer five times before The Company's guests walked in. There were three of them; all were tall and dressed in black suits with black ties, except for the middle man, his tie was gold. The two in black ties flagged both of the gold tie's sides as they were introduced to Rachael. They all bowed at the same time; and when they all stood up straight again, Aisha's heart almost stopped.

The man in the middle was no other than Chase Young and Aisha had no idea what to do.

_'What is he doing here?! Run or hide! Run or hide! Run or hide?'_ She panicked and her body remained still, doing nothing. _'Waahh...Eff this.'_ And she grabbed her cell phone and snuck her way to the bathroom.

-&-&-&-&-

Kiara leaned back and forth on her heels while Chase greeted the supervisor lady. She was still so excited to be in New York City, and even more excited to be going to "work" with Chase. Even though she had been alive for 1500 years, she still had a few tendencies of any typical 8-year-old girl. But she promised Chase that she would behave today, especially since he was going to reward her with her favorite treat if she was good. And she was doing a good job until she saw a dark figure sprint out of the door behind them which was followed by a gust of a rose and lavender smell. Kiara could tell that the three men noticed it too but as an added alert she tugged a little on Chase's hand as he continued speaking to the lady.

"_Ie-choo!_" Kiara squeaked.

"God bless you," the lady smiled.

"Thank you. Abidah, may I get a tissue from the bathroom?" Kiara asked, but only gave Chase less than a second to answer before she ran out of the door and into the hall.

"She's so sweet," the woman commented.

"Yes, she takes after her mother," Chase replied after giving Elonzo a look which meant to follow Kiara. "Now where were we?"

Kiara ran down the hallway, knowing that someone was definitely on their way after her. So she ducked into the women's bathroom, with full knowledge that none of the men would dare enter it.

"What am I going to do Erica? What if he sees me?" A voice asked from behind one of the stalls. Kiara could hear the pitched mumbling of a reply from a phone.

"It's already bad enough that he knows where I live. And now he's about to find out where I work! . . . Well I can't just leave! That would look so horrible!" At that moment Aisha saw a caramel face and a pair of hazel eyes appear underneath her stall door.

"Uh Erica, let me call you back." With that, Aisha closed her phone and opened the door to find a little girl smiling up at her. Her black and red plaid skirt flowed with her body as she swayed back and forth on her heels. "Hello there."

The girl's smile grew even wider as she replied, "Hello."

"Um...are you lost or something?" Aisha asked as she squatted down to the girl's level.

"Nope," she answered and continued to sway forward and back. "Oh, my name is Kiara by the way." She stretched out her hand.

"And I'm Aisha," she said, shaking Kiara's hand.

"Aisha. That's a pretty name. You're really pretty."

"Thank you. You're really pretty too."

Kiara giggled and then took Aisha's hand. "You should come meet my fath- I mean uncle. He would love to meet a pretty lady like you."

Aisha was in complete shock for the second time that day. _'This little girl has a lot of nerve.'_

"Hold on. What makes you think I'm even single?" She asked when Kiara started to pull her towards the door out of the bathroom.

". . . Hmm. Well you don't have a ring on your left ring finger," Kiara answered matter-of-factly.

"I could already have a boyfriend."

"Well do you?"

"No--"'

"Okay then," Kiara shrugged as she managed to pull the older woman into the hall.

"That's not the poi--" Aisha stopped speaking when she saw a tall blonde man standing in front then. At first his expression was angry when they first stepped into the hall, but that quickly turned to surprise when he saw her.

"Lady-- Uh. Hello Miss." The man corrected himself quickly. "Is this little girl bothering you?"

"Um not really. You wouldn't happen to be her uncle would you?"  
"He is! But not the one I want you to_ meet._" Kiara cut in before the blonde man had a chance to answer. "Come with me. He's this way."

* * *

**YAY!! Chapter 3 is done!!!And before Thanksgiving. Now let's see what chaos might ensue when the family is brought back together. . . . .**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: HAPPY 2010!~~~!!! So I don't know if there's anything important I need to say on this one now. So READ, ENJOY, and REVIEW!!**

* * *

**The Past is Back**

**Chapter 4**

It took Chase three whole months of nonstop searching before he finally returned home. Since the vandals disappeared using magic, any normal means for searching for her would be futile. The piece of shirt was useless, not even the blood on it helped. For three whole days Chase tried to locate her using the shirt, a crystal, a map, and a spell and nothing would happen.

When he returned home, he immediately went to the far side of the citadel and locked himself in a room for two weeks. During the first few nights, frustrated growls and furious roared echoed throughout the lair along with the sounds of breaking walls. Chase was lost; completely and utterly lost as to what to do next.

_'Magical means didn't work. . .I could enlist outside assistance,. . .but if any Heylin find out that she's missing, the bounty on her would instantly quadruple and she would be in even more danger. . .So there is no one who can help me. . .except for her mother. . ."_

**_"But what exactly do you plan on telling her Genius?"_** Chase's inner dragon questioned. **_"'Hello mother-of-the-girl-I-was-supposed-to-protect, I fucked up, she's gone.' Are you trying to get us _****killed_?!"_**

"SHUT UP!!!!" Chase shouted. It had already been trying for him to keep his nerves in check, to remain as calm as possible; but now all of his patience went out the window. However, instead of lashing out in rage at the first thing that moved, he suddenly became very silent and still. His worries, his fears, and almost every one of his emotions literally faded from him in a white flowing mist onto the floor. Nothing and no one concerned him. Only _their_ lives had any meaning to him, only _their_ lives had value.

Chase took a deep, renewing breath as he decided on his next plan to find her. Nothing was going to stop him from completing his goal.

And for the first time in two weeks he stepped foot in his citadel to find little Kiara huddled up on the floor next to the door.

---------------------------------- PRESENT DAY----------------------------------------

"_Finally _they're finished!" Kiara sighed in relief.

"Your uncle is _Chase_?" Aisha asked Kiara as Chase Young emerged from the conference room with Rachael. While Aisha and Kiara were waiting for Rachael's meeting to end, they had wasted away the better part of an hour beating each other's scores at solitaire.

"Aisha," Chase smiled when he saw her and walked over to her desk, Rachael followed.

"Hi," she slightly nervously smiled back.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Rachael and Kiara asked in unison. Rachael was in genuine shock; but Kiara was just showing off her years of acting classes.

"Yeah, we met a couple of weeks ago," Chase answered and put his hands in his pants pockets. "First we find out that we live two floors away from each other and now we work for the same company... _my_ company. Our worlds are overlapping each other's quite a bit."

"They really are. It's getting a little weird," Aisha replied pensively. _"It's a bit _too_ weird . . . It's almost as though- -"_

"It's almost as though you were meant to be together," Kiara's small voice chirped in with the exact words that Aisha was about to think.

"Please don't mind her, she has quite an imagination. I think it was a few too many bedtime stories," Chase replied. "Well it was nice doing business with you Ms. Odona." He stretched out his hand to Rachael.

Rachael shook his hand, "It was nice meet you too. So you'll be back when?"

"I'll be back on Monday to finalize everything. Aisha, it was good to see you again. Kiara, let's go."

"Bye Aisha." Kiara looked up at Aisha with a huge grin and then gave her a quick hug before skipping off to follow Chase. "I hope we'll see each other again soon!"

"Me too!" Aisha smiled at the little girl as she left.

-----------A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER-------------

"_Hi, you've reached Chase Young. Since I missed your call, just leave a message and I'll get back to you soon._"

*_BEEP_*

"Hi Chase, it's me Aisha. Um, you're probably gonna be busy, but I was just wondering if you'd like to come bowling with me and a few of my friends this Saturday. I know it's a bit short notice since tomorrow's Saturday and all but it would still be great if you could come. Okay, now I'm rambling. Um it's at 8 o'clock at the 300 alley; you can bring some of your own friends if you want. The more the merrier. Just let me know if you can come. Okay, bye!"

With that Aisha hung up the phone and took a deep breath. That phone call was definitely going on her list of the embarrassing things she's done. Well now at least she was done with everything for the party, it was now time to relax with a glass of calming wine . . .

--------------------------FRIDAY---------------------------

"Aww c'mon Aisha, you need to release all of your stress and tension from this week's worth of work and planning Esmeralda and Tomas's engagement party. And I'm the best way to relieve that stress," Ilario coaxed in Aisha's ear from behind her as he slipped his arms around her slim waist.

Aisha kept her composure as though nothing was happening and rolled her eyes, "Rio would you stop before people start to wonder."

"Wonder what? Everyone in this room knows about us Aisha, it's not a secret."

"But still, I'm the hostess; I can't just disappear and go 'play' with you without having my absence noticed by everyone."

"Or you don't want your disappearance noticed by _someone_," Ilario implied suspiciously.

"Uh yeah!" Aisha replied. "If I miss when Essie brings in Tomas for the surprise, I'll be pissed and I'll make sure that you never get nookie ever again."

Ilario sucked his teeth and sighed as he let her go. "You're no damn fun anymore. Ever since you met that guy in the club. It's not--"

"Whoa, whoa. It's not Chase's fault and what do you mean I haven't been fun?"

"I hardly ever see you anymore. And when I do, we just talk and eat. That's not fun! I have needs you know, and as my friend I would hope that you'd be able to fulfill those needs."

Aisha narrowed her eyes at him; she was convinced that Ilario had just lost his mind. "Firstly, I know you have needs because I have the same ones. You just need to control your cravings like I do. Secondly--"

"Control? You consider your cravings _controlled_? You call screwing five guys every other Friday night _control_?"

Aisha stepped up to him and she glared at him right in his eyes, "Say it Rio! I know its sitting on the tip of your tongue, _say it!_"

Ilario stared right back at her and they stood in tense silence for a few seconds. He knew what she wanted him to say, but he knew better than to let the word roll from his lips: she would just throw it right back at him.

"Admit it, my way is a lot more practical than hooking up with someone every night," Aisha said as she broke the silence. "And F.Y.I., I haven't had a craving since I met Chase." And with that, she walked away from him and to the bar.

_'Buck_,' Ilario's mind groaned. '_I really messed that up. Ugh... and I haven't seen her that angry since our last break up. . . Her mother's gonna kill me. God I gotta get rid of all this sexual tension. Now who's gonna help me with that?' _Ilario's own cravings were messing with his head. Normally he would've pursued the issue with Aisha and stay with her for the rest of the night, but he just couldn't think clearly at the moment. However through the thick fog in his head, he knew that he would have to keep an eye on Chase; something about him wasn't right.

"Your brother is such an asshole. I thought you taught him better," Aisha commented as she sat on a stool at the bar next to Erica.

"_Adopted_ brother," Erica corrected. "And it's not my fault that he thinks with his ***k."

"Well tell him to stop; I'm getting tired of constantly having to avoid him."

Erica took a sip of her drink. She hated being dragged into the middle of Aisha and Ilario's problems; she really didn't give a damn and it made her slightly uncomfortable. "You two are in the same 'predicament', it's only natural that he comes to you for. . . 'help'?"

"Oh I haven't told you have I?"

"Told me what?"

"That I haven't had a craving since I met Chase."

"Aisha," Erica started very seriously in a slight whisper, "in the last two-hundred years, there have been plenty of times when your cravings just disappeared. And every time we think its _magically_ cured to find out some 6 months later that it wasn't. This time is no different."

"But you don't get it. I feel fulfilled. I mean, my cravings aren't on the forefront of mind anymore. I've lost that fear of what would happen if I suddenly get an urge. This hasn't happened before, and really think it's because of Chase. It's weird, even just hearing his voice can calm me."

Erica was now beginning to wonder about her friend. She was starting to sound like an obsessive fan girl, and that has never been a good sign. Just as she was about to reply to Aisha's testimony, she stopped when she say her face light up with a smile.

"Chase!" Aisha exclaimed and went to hug him as he stood behind Erica's seat.

"Good evening Purple-Eyes," a voice greeted. "It's nice to see you again Erica."

"Yeah, good to see you too," Erica almost mumbled as her gaze froze on Chase's face. She was struck nearly dumbfounded by his greeting. _' "_Purple Eyes"_. . . he called her _"Purple-Eyes"._ Why would he do that? Her eyes aren't purple, well at least _he_ shouldn't be able to see them as purple unless. . .'_

"Oh God," Erica said still zoned out in her thoughts and at the same time her glass crumpled in her hand.

"Oh geez Erica are you alright? What's wrong?" Aisha asked as she grabbed some napkins and pressed them against Erica's bleeding hand.

"What? Oh, um, yeah, I'm fine. Just a little slip of my hand. I'll be alright, excuse me." She quickly answered and nearly jogged out of the room in search of a bathroom.

"Are you sure she'll be alright?" Chase's blonde friend asked. Aisha immediately recognized him from the day that Chase came to her job. He was one of Kiara's "uncles".

"Yeah. It was just a minor cut. She'll be fine," Aisha waved it off. "Maybe she was as shocked as I was to see that you made it. You didn't return my call so I just guessed that you weren't coming."

Chase smiled a little as he explained, "About that, it turns out that I left my phone at home and Kiara got to it before that afternoon and told me your message. She thought it was a better idea for me to surprise you."

"She's a very creative little girl. But she did catch the element of surprise."

"I definitely think you have her beat with the element of surprise. I thought you said a _few_ friends."

"This is a few," Aisha stated simply about the some-odd seventy-five other people conversing and bowling in 300's sophisticated private party room.

"Right . . ." Chase replied. _"She's still as slightly disillusioned as ever."_

"Well you'll meet everyone later. Right now I just need your friends' names to be counted for catering." She began to scribble something on her clipboard.

"I'm Li-liang," the dark haired man said.

"And I'm Elonzo," the blond man said somewhat distractedly as most of his attention was caught by a pair of passing women. "It was nice meet you Aisha, but right now I'd like to meet some of your friends. Chase, Li-liang, I'll see you two later." And with that he walked away.

"Don't mind him, he can't help himself," Chase replied.

"It's alright, I can relate." Just then a young woman approached the group who was clearly upset. "Oh no, what happened?"

"Ilario happened! He's doing it again! Would you keep him on his leash so he stops creeping out everyone!" The angry woman erupted as she pointed across the room to the culprit who seemed to be conversing nicely with a young lady on a sofa.

"I don't see a problem," Aisha replied.

"Just wait for it," the woman stated as she crossed her arms and continued to glare in Ilario's direction. The next instant his hand was on the young lady's bare knee and they moved closer together.

"Hell no. Which number is this one?" Aisha asked.

"Number 5," the woman answered.

"Diane, hold this and make sure everything runs smoothly," Aisha said as she gave the woman her clipboard and then turned back to Chase and Li-liang, "Would you excuse me, I have to take care of something. Please enjoy the party." And with that she and Diane left the two men as they went over to Ilario.

"I wonder what she's going to do to him." Li-liang thought aloud; he knew that Chase was thinking the same thing.

But Chase knew that Li-liang knew what he was thinking and completely changed the subject. "You should find yourself a woman Li-liang; I see Elonzo isn't having any problems with that. You should join him." Chase suggested as they watched Elonzo bowl his third strike in a row and basking in all of the praise from the spectating women.

Li-liang looked on in slight disgust, he understood that the comment was meant to be a bit of a joke. "He was infamous for his lechery before we even met him. . .Ugh, look at him, it's like he hasn't seen a woman before!"

"It has been a couple of centuries since you two had time to enjoy yourselves hasn't it?"

"Two and a half to be exact."

"Well what are you standing around here for? Go make the most of this visit."

"Is that an order?" Li-liang asked with a raised eyebrow. The three men had known each other for so long that they would act like old drinking buddies at times, but as always with Chase, there were boundaries.

"What kind of question is that? Of course it's an order, besides I need you to keep an eye on Elonzo; I have things of take care of."

"Alright I'm going," Li-liang responded before they parted ways; he to the bowling lanes and Chase towards the door.

Chase had noticed that Aisha and the man Ilario left the part and he was curious to know why. That and his new fear of losing Aisha again prevented him from not trying to follow her almost everywhere.

But as he turned the corner into the hall, he almost collided into Erica who was too preoccupied with her injury to pay attention to where she was going.

"Excuse me," Chase said and began to walk away until he hear his name.

"Chase, we need to talk," Erica stated.

_"This woman is becoming quite a nuisance,"_ Chase thought. For the second time that they've known each other she was once again telling him what to do. "And if I refuse?"

Erica stood defiant and blank in front of him as she answered ". . .I'll make sure you'll never get what you want most."

This honestly surprised Chase (even though he didn't show it). He wasn't sure whether or not anyone else could have possibly known about his search for Aisha. **_". . .All this guessing is becoming frustrating. We're so close to what we want and shit keeps getting in the way! Just talk to her, maybe you'll learn something."_**

"Alright. Whatever it is I'm sure you can tell me here."

"No I can't," Erica replied.

_'So she does know. But how? Who the hell is she?'_

Erica led Chase outside to the back of the building and lit a cigarette before she began to speak. "I can't believe this. . .After all this damn time running. . ." And she inhaled on her cigarette.

"Would you get to the point please," Chase almost snapped at her. He needed to know what she knew and his patience was wearing thin.

Erica leaned against the wall of the alley as she sighed a puff of smoke and chuckled. "You haven't changed at all you know. Actually, if I didn't know any better, you've gotten worse."

_'What is this woman talking about? Now she's claiming to know me!'_ "Who are you?"

Erica exhaled her smoke with a smile. "I'm Erica Munoz and I'm hoping that you're Chase Young."

Chase just stayed silent, he couldn't tell of this girl was toying with him.

"I'm going to take that as a yes. You know it really bothers me that you can remember Aisha but not me." She inhaled on her cigarette again. "You still don't remember, huh? Well Isabella won't be happy to hear about your arrival. That's my job you know, to keep Aisha safe especially from you."

"What are you talking about? How do you know Isabella?" This girl was being more of a burden than a help. All she was doing was giving him more questions to ask.

"Then I'll show you," and she closed her eyes. At that moment Chase saw a slideshow of images flash before his eyes from inside his mind. They stopped on a recording looking down on Chase and Aisha in a village with people lying everywhere. They were discussing something and then Aisha's eyes looked up in the recorder's direction:

_"It was you!" Aisha shouted pointing towards the recorder with one of her swords. "You damn bird! You followed me!"_

_Aisha was about to go after it but Chase held her back by her waist._

_"You flying black rat! I'm gonna slice off your head and fry you up for dinner! Chase let go!" she shouted still trying to reach out for the bird as it flew away._

"You're the raven? But that's impossible, I remember watching you die in combustion of flames on my order. I had Isabella send me a new one, but that one is still in China." Chase said once the images finished.

"Well it obviously wasn't me that you killed," Erica responded. "After you sent me to look for Aisha after she disappeared, for some reason I wasn't able to return to you. I had no idea if you were getting any of the things I was seeing so I just kept on her. And when Aisha met up with Isabella in 570, she made me human to be able to help her more. I've been with Aisha ever since."

"Wait what? Isabella has known about Aisha's whereabouts since 570 a.d?" Chase asked as he massaged the area between his eyebrows. He was starting to get pissed; Isabella had known where Aisha was for the last 1500 years and hadn't bothered to bring her back let alone tell him!

"For the most part, yeah because of me. But it was such a hassle because every time the girl died, it would take forever to find her again," Erica answered with slight frustration over the past.

"Aisha has _died_ more than _once_?!"

Erica put up her hands in defense, "Ahh calm down! She didn't exactly _die_, it was more like her soul was. . . 'recycled'. . .multiple times."

"God I gotta get her away from this," Chase muttered and started to walk back toward the building.

"What? No! Look I'm telling you, if she hasn't remembered you by now, she's not going to." Erica stated and turned him around to look at her. "Before you showed back up a couple of weeks ago, she hadn't mentioned your name in nine-hundred years."

It almost hurt Chase to hear that the only one he loved and who loved him back forgot about him.

"And for the first six-hundred years she spent any of her free time crying over you. I know she'll be ecstatic _if_ she ever remembers you, but just _don't_ do anything drastic. As of right now she fears you a bit so be careful how you tread or you'll scare her away."

Chase's face was blank as ever, but inside he was reeling from the fact that Isabella was basically hiding Aisha from him for all of this time. "Where is she now?"

Erica, thinking that he meant Aisha replied, "Um, well she's upstairs somewhere with--"

"No, I meant Isabella," he interrupted irritatedely.

"Oh! She's supposed to be home in Massachusetts but that's never guaranteed." Chase turned away from her in silence and walked back into the bowling alley planning his next move.

Erica sighed as she dropped her cigarette onto the ground and snuffed it out with the bottom of her shoe before taking out her cell phone. It rang a few times after she had dialed the number and a slightly agitated feminine voice answered.

_"Hello?"_

"It's me. Um we have a bit of a problem . . . well at least you do," Erica started.

_"Erica, it is frickin' two in the morning over here. Don't play games with me."_

"What are you talking about; it's only 8 o'clock here. The time difference Massachusetts isn't _that_ different from New York's."

_"I'm not in Massachusetts, I'm in Madrid. Now what did you want?"_

"Oh, well he's here looking for her."

_"Who's there looking for who?"_

"Chase Young is here looking for Aisha."

The silence on the other side of the line lasted so long that it was almost deafening. "_WHAT?! How long has he been there?!"_

"It's been a couple of weeks since she met him--"

"_A COUPLE OF WEEKS?! Shit! Your job was supposed to be to make sure that he _didn't_ find her! What the fuck happened?"_

"I don't know. He just showed up one day and I didn't realize it was him until about twenty minutes ago."

"_Oh my God. I'm coming back on the next flight to the U.S. This is fucking ridiculous."_

"Well this _was inevitable._ I really don't think it's anything to worry too much about."

_"Nothing to worry about? If he could find her, what makes you think that other Heylin can't?"_

"Well he is Chase Young, the best of the Heylin. I'm surprised it took him so damn long. . ."

". . . I should be in New York by eleven the next morning."

"What? No Isa, I'm telling you it's not necessary . . . Is-Isabella are you still there?" Erica heard a click and then a dial tone. '_Dammit! This is such a mess.'_

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**Creating drama is sooo much fun!! So alot happened in this chapter and even more craziness will ensue next time. OK SEE YOU LATER!!!! and THANK YOU!!!**


	5. Chapter 5

**C**

**So I discovered the other day that I'm an amazing name-picker. It turns out that the name "Aisha" is Arabic for "she who lives" . . . AMAZING!!!!! And I'm pretty sure that everyone can figure out why by now. **

**Anyway, enough bragging. You have a very long chapter to read. ENJOY!!!!!**

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**The Past Is Back**

**Chapter 5**

That entire conversation with Erica put Chase in a _really_ bad mood. Why didn't Isabella return Aisha to him? What the hell was her problem? Almost everything stopped making sense to him at that point. There was no doubt in his mind that he would need to speak to her mother very soon.

_'I wouldn't be surprised that _she's_ the reason Aisha can't remember me,_' his mind angrily surmised as he stormed as calmly as he could manage back up to the party.

"Aisha," Chase said as he moved to tap her on her shoulder.

She gave a slight jump before he even touched her. "Wha- Oh Chase, hey. Are you enjoying yourself?"

_'No, I just discovered that you were being hidden from me for the last fifteen hundred years. . .'_ His mind retorted. "If I answered yes, would you believe me?"

Aisha folded her arms across her chest and hugged them against herself as though she was cold and smiled, "Yes. It's nice to believe that someone in this world isn't lying to me."

She seemed different...Chase could sense that she was feeling vulnerable; even her coloring was a few shades lighter.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Um, yeah I'm fine. Don't worry about it," she shrugged in response. "I just need to find Diane, she has my stuff. Have you seen her?"

"No, I haven't seen her and I don't believe that you're alright." He leaned closer to her and gazed into her eyes. In his closeness, he picked up her scent along with that of an unknown, almost reptilian scent.

Aisha took a bit of a step back in slight offense. "What? I told you I'm fine. Hey, what are you doing?"

Chase took her by her arm and led out of the party room into the hall. "It was him wasn't? What did he do to you?" He demanded; his fearful over protectiveness showing as he gently pinned her to a wall.

Aisha's eyes went wide and her mouth trembled slightly from fear. His eyes were angry and suddenly, she was afraid of that . . ._ familiar_ anger. She wanted to crumble beneath Chase's fierce stare; she wanted to beg for his forgiveness even though she wasn't sure what she had done wrong.

"Chase, you're hurting me," her whisper indicted about his grip on her arm.

He didn't let go, someone had hurt her more and he wanted to know who it was, "It was Ilario wasn't it?"

"What? Ilario didn't do anything, he wouldn't hurt me."

"Hey what's going on?" Said man asked as he entered the hall from the bathroom. "Aisha are you okay?"

Chase shot him a death glare that rivaled the look of real death and stepped to Ilario in one swift stride. "What did you do to her?"

Ilario narrowed his eyes back at Chase, "None of your business. Why? What are you implying?"

"Look at her! What does your infinitesimal mind think?!"

By now Aisha had regained her voice and walked over to the two arguing men.

"Alright, the both of you shut the hell up! Chase I told you not to worry about me, what's your problem?"

"Yeah, what's your deal?" Ilario inappropriately added as wrapped his arms around Aisha's waist from behind her.

"Shut up asshole and let me go," Aisha commanded and Ilario quickly obeyed and stepped away from her. "This is just as much your fault too."

"What? What did I do?!"

"If you weren't so damn horny all the time, maybe you could figure it out!" Ilario instantly succumbed to her rebuttal and shut up.

"And _you_," she continued as she pointed at Chase, "should I be worried that you care about me so much?"

". . . No."

"Oh, okay... Well tone it down a bit, it's a little scary. And if you must know about earlier," Aisha wanted to tell him the truth, but the truth would have definitely made things worse. . . "I wasn't feeling well so I went to the bathroom and saw my lunch for the second time today."

"I've told over and over again that calamari isn't' your friend," Ilario sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. She did a somewhat decent job with that cover-up lie; Chase obviously didn't know about them.

"_Shut it, Rio_. And that's why I'm so pale right now, but other than I'm fine," she nodded at the last sentence.

_**'She's lying.'** 'I know...It seems as though she has gotten even worse at it. I can smell him all over her! Does she think I'm a fucking idiot?!'_ Chase conversed within himself. "I apologize for my over-reaction."

"Fuckin' understatement of the year," Ilario muttered angrily.

Aisha gave Rio a quick jab in his stomach with her elbow and a smile, "Apology accepted." Her phone then began to ring and she checked it. It was the text she had been waiting for all day. "Ahh! They're here!"

"Finally! I'll go rally up the guests." Ilario stated and walked back to the party.

Aisha went to follow him but stopped when she heard her name.

"I _am _sincerely sorry about that," Chase voiced with a slight bow. "Is there any way that I can make it up to you?"

"I told you that it's alright. Don't worry about it."

"But I insist."

A bit of a smile tugged on the corner of Aisha's mouth, "If this is your sly way of asking me out...then okay. Call me tomorrow morning?"

"I won't disappoint you." And with that they walked back into the party room for the surprise.

----------------------THE NEXT DAY------------------

_*DING DONG_*

It was one in the afternoon when the doorbell rang.

"I'm coming!" Aisha called as she pulled on a coat from her hall closet. She knew exactly who it was waiting for her on the other side of the door; and he was right on time.

_*DING DONG! DING DONG!*_

Aisha paused in her rush around her apartment to open the door. "Geez, could you ring the bell anymore?" she asked sarcastically and let her guest in.

"I apologize, I tend to be a little impatient," Chase answered as he stepped into the apartment and looked around. The open floor plan revealed an open living room to the right furnished with ivory whit sofas, a glass coffee table, her large flat screen TV against the back wall, and a black glass cabinet with a stereo on top of it. The kitchen was straight ahead and also open with a row of counters as the only thing separating it from the hall to the left assumedly led to the bedrooms and bathroom.

"Well I'm gonna have to fix that," she replied and disappeared into the back of her home. "Since you're here you might as well sit down and relax. I just need a few minutes."

Chase moved into the living room area and began to look through her cd collection. He noted how varied the music was: from classical to Hindi to Latin Pop and Opera to American Pop and R&B. "It's alright. We can stay here if you want." His browsing continued as he opened the cabinets underneath the stereo to find even more cds. Hidden there were Orchestra music, Piano pieces, and Soul.

"Well if that were the plan I would've prepared more . . . I have neither food nor...this is crazy... nor entertainment for you," she huffed in reply as she hopped back down the hall struggling with the left boot she was trying to put on. "These damn boots!"

Chase immediately went to her side and in one swift motion sat her on the hall side of her kitchen counter. "Can you not break anything before we get a chance to leave?" he said as he unzipped the boot and slipped it on her foot. "And it would help if you unzipped it first."

"Well I was in a rush," she quietly replied and suddenly felt warm everywhere; she wondered if she was blushing. Maybe it was from how embarrassed she was that she'd forgotten to unzip her boot, or maybe it was the rush of having him so close to her.

Chase placed his right hand behind her left calve and smirked as his eyes followed his left hand zip the knee-high leather boot closed. He wondered if he should allow his hand to continue traveling up her denim clad leg like he used to so long ago . . . He looked up to meet the pair of lavender eyes that had haunted his dreams for such a long time. He allowed them to try their best to read his own eyes as he decided to leave his hands on each of her knees.

A long silence followed as Aisha stared into his amber orbs. There was something in them that almost felt familiar, something that was almost begging her somewhere . . .

". . .So where are we going today?" The question was barely audible, but Chase heard it; he had made it a personal vow to listen to and pay attention to every word that escaped from her lips.

"I'm not really sure. I was hoping you would just give me a tour of your lovely city," he answered and stepped forward towards her so that his arms wrapped around her back.

Aisha was suddenly as completely eased with him; her earlier uneasiness was cured by being in his embrace and placed her arms around his neck. "So I guess a trip to Times Square it is."

"Alright, but those boots are completely impractical to walk around in for hours."

"What? I'm a New Yorker, I'm used to walking ten city blocks in 5 inch heels," she replied proudly. "That and once these things are on, I'm not taking them off until I come back here. You think getting these on was an issue? Try taking them off."

"Now that is an experience I wouldn't mind living through," Chase answered giving her body a once over with his eyes as he slid his hands onto her sides and lifted her from the counter onto the floor.

"You should be a little more slick when you're trying to cop a feel," Aisha advised with a raised eyebrow stepping in front of him and wrapped her red scarf around her neck before buttoning up her black pea coat.

"I'll try to remember that." He smirked and whispered in her ear, "However, I don't think that you would really reprimand much of what I'd do."

Another rush suddenly ran through her body and she was almost overcome with and urge to pounce him. _'What is it that he has over me?' _

Chase saw her body tense at the sound of his voice in her ear and then watched at how quickly it relaxed once he placed his hands on her waist. "Was that better?"

"Yes," she sighed dreamily but quickly snapped out of it as she went to grab her keys and purse off an end table. She even changed the subject to escape the sudden feelings that were reminding her of her old ways, "Is that all you're wearing out?"

She was referring to Chase's lack of coat. His outfit consisted of a pair of dark wash jeans, a navy blue dress shirt with its top buttons left open and even deeper navy blue blazer that was unbuttoned and a black scarf.

"It's thirty degrees outside."

"I'm always warm. Don't worry about me," Chase convinced her. Aisha gave him a funny look and opened the door.

"So what do you want to do first?" she asked when they were in the elevator.

"I don't really mind, as long as it keeps me entertained," Chase answered.

"Aren't _you_ taking _me_ out on the date? Shouldn't you have this figured out?"

"I _am _providing the transportation. And I find it much easier to let my date choose where she wants to go." The truth was that he wanted to know what interested her now. It was almost as though this Aisha was a complete stranger to him.

"Okay, as to avoid a fight on our first date when we haven't even made it out of our building, how about we start at Madame Tussaud's then go to Bangkok House to eat?" she suggested.

"Sound's good to me. But what is Madame Tussand's?"

"It's this amazing wax museum. You'll like it I think," Aisha replied as they stepped into the parking garage and began to rummage through her bag. Upon seeing Chase an employee ran to the elevator and 2 minutes later returned to them pulling up to them in an all black 2009 Maserati S. "Is that your car?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes," Chase replied somewhat distractedly and walked around to the driver's side; he had been staring at her since they left the elevator.

"Are you serious? Forget my boots; this thing is completely impractical for the city. Aren't you afraid of getting it stolen? Or worse: scratched?"

"I can always get a new one," he replied indifferently as he disappeared into the car.

Aisha remained in slight silent shock as she got into the passenger's seat. _'Is this man made of money? This car is at least 100-grand and he's driving it around_ New York City_?!'_

"And it was either this or the Lotus Evora and I didn't think you would have approved of that one." And they pulled out into the city streets

"Yeah, you're right. The Lotus would've been an even worse idea," Aisha half-mumbled as she restarted her search through her bag.

"What are you looking for?"

"Ugh...I can't find my wallet!"

"Don't worry about it. We're on a date, I will take care of everything."

"No I don't care if I don't have money...I need my driver's license or some type of I.D."

"Why?"

"Well if we're going out to eat, then I wanna drink some, but people always I.D. me 'cause I look so young. . ."

Chase smirked, "Well how old are you?"

Aisha turned and looked at him with a little smile of her own, "It is not proper etiquette to ask a lady her age."

"Alright...I will tell you my age if you tell me yours."

She thought about this for a few seconds before answering, "Okay, so how old are _you_?"

"I am fifteen hundred years old," he replied with his smirk still plastered on his features.

Aisha fell into an even more severe shock than her first one. His answer sounded ridiculous, but a part of her wanted to believe him; wanted to tell him her true age because she felt that he could handle it. . . "You liar. Now you'll never know my age."

"I can honestly tell you that I am not lying. I find lying pointless and a complete waste of energy."

"So then why are you lying to me now?" Aisha half-jokingly insisted.

"Just because you insist on something, it doesn't make it true," Chase responded as they turned into another parking garage.

"Um you know there's another parking garage three blocks closer to Times Square, right?"

"Yes, I know," he said and got out of the car before he handed his car key to the garage attendant and walked around the car to the passenger side.

Aisha scoffed and muttered under her breath about the absurdity of making her walk more than she had to as she put on her sunglasses before Chase opened her door.

"Why do you insist on hiding you lovely lavender eyes from me behind those sunglasses?" he asked while offered his hand to her to help her out the car.

She remained silent and took his hand and stepped out fixing her coat. "I hope you realize that you're losing major points on this date," she said raising her shades to look him straight in his eyes; Chase just smirked in reply.

A few men waiting for their car some twenty yards away suddenly began to whistle and cat-call at Aisha once she stepped out of the car. "Hey Bonita! Why don'tcha ditch him and join use for the day?!" One fool was bold enough to shout.

Aisha didn't even acknowledge their presence and lowered her sunglasses back down as she turned to walk away. She was used to the constant, inescapable attraction that most men had towards her every time she walked by them. She took a step but realized that she didn't move; she looked down at her hand and saw that it was still in Chase's hand whose earlier smirk was now a deathly glare towards the shouting men.

"Chase, forget them, I'm used to it. Let's just go," Aisha whispered to him and tugged on his hand that was holding hers. But trying to move him was comparable to trying to move a mountain.

She suddenly felt some fear towards him that wasn't because of his glare, it was caused by his hardened silence. It seemed to emanate such volumes of hatred and evil that she should have ran away. She couldn't help but wonder what thoughts could possibly be running through his (unexpectedly) jealous mind.

Aisha pushed her shades up onto her head again and stepped in front of his view, "Chase, let's go." Her voice slightly shook, revealing the small fear of him that she was feeling.

Chase's vision abruptly changed from seeing red, to seeing purple discs surrounded by soft caramel features. The next sense that regained its normality was his hearing as his ears rang with Aisha's voice.

"We will leave after I've taught them a lesson," he replied and took a step towards the rambunctious men.

Aisha held fast onto him and pulled with all her strength, "Let it _go_; we're leaving _now_." The last thing she needed was for Chase to bring any unnecessary attention to himself because that meant that he would also be bringing attention to her. She refused to let herself be recognized by some random person just because Chase wanted to pick a fight with a couple of drunk assholes.

"Oye rameras! Callese antes que mi amigo le mate!" She shouted at them and they instant brought their volumes down to a low mutter complain about not having any fun and turning away from Chase and Aisha. "Can we go now?"

Chase arched his eyebrow; he was impressed. Even after 1500 years and yesterdays little episode, she still guts. "Of course," he smirked as he placed his hand on her lower back and led her out of the parking garage. When they turned onto the sidewalk, he snapped the fingers on his right hand a few seconds later a medley of muffled screeches and growls erupted.

"Did you hear that?" Aisha asked and slightly turned to look back at the garage that they had just left.

"Did I hear what?" Chase replied with a look that seemed above suspicion and continued to lead her into the city.

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**YAY!!! One more chapter....Um and yea, please excuse the excess swearing of the characters. Just let me know how you guys feel.**

**SEE YA NEXT TIME!!!!!**

**THANK YOU!!!!!**


	6. Chapter 6

**This is sooo over due and kind of a filler chapter. Hopefully chapter 7 will be up by june. YAYY no more school!!!**

**ENJOY!!!**

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So all in all Chase and Aisha's afternoon together went well. Chase found the wax museum enjoyable; well more or less because he had Aisha laughing at almost every turn. Her laugh was still music to his ears. It was the same laugh from all those centuries ago; and it was the same laugh that haunted his dreams almost every night since she disappeared.

As the day progressed and they moved on to their early dinner at the Bangkok House, the pair was at complete ease with each other. At one point Chase even dared to take her hand in his as they walked through the city.

Aisha made no objection to this small gesture, but once her hand was encased by his, she suddenly found herself standing at the top of a grand staircase looking down at a fancy ball. She felt the weight of someone on her right arm and wanted to see who it was, but her gaze remained forward as she and her companion started down the stairs. She could hear the ruffling of her purple and black dress and the conversations of the party's exotic guests . . . . .

"Aisha? Aisha, are you alright?" Chase asked her; her eyes recovered from their glossy, far-away state.

"Um . . . yeah," she replied as she came back to the reality of New York City. "It's just--those boots are gorgeous!" She quickly lied to cover up her spacing-out as being caused by awe over the shoes.

Chase looked at the shop window's leather boots, "Do you want to go shopping now?"

Aisha chuckled and pulled him along, "No, no, no. I already have them," she lifted her leg to show him, "I don't need another pair. Don't worry."

"You can never have too many boots," Chase replied jokingly.

"Ha! Yeah, I know."

"So how much further?"

"About 5 blocks. Why? Are you getting tired?"

"No, just wondering. But if_ you_ start getting tired just let me know."

"Oh I definitely will."

The rest of the walk went smoothly; well, for Aisha anyway. Even though Chase appeared calm and content on the outside, within him his inner demon was in a fit of rage. Instead of letting his excessive pride bask in the jealousy every man they passed had of him because Chase was walking around with probably the most beautiful woman they'd ever seen; he was plotting each man's death that stopped and stared at _his_ Aisha. Yes, Chase considered Aisha as his, she had always been his...the problem was always keeping her with him.

Aisha on the other hand was on cloud nine. Physically, Chase was everything she craved: he was confident, strong, classy but obviously a badass, and definitely the most gorgeous man she had ever laid eyes on. But the most interesting thing about him was how, even though he was perfect, she had no desire to let him have his way with her. She had met many men in her life that she had an immediate attraction to upon first sight, and then found herself waking up to his snoring the next morning. But this had been different. She really wanted this to work; a solid relationship might do her some good.

_'It might be too early to think this, but maybe he's the one,'_ Aisha thought. But for most of her life she knew that someone was out there for her; that he was waiting for her...She just never knew who he was. All she knew was that he had to find him. . .

"Is this it?" Chase asked. They stopped in front of a glass door entrance that had the words: BANGKOK HOUSE above the door way in red neon lights.

"Oh yeah! This is it. C'mon, I made reservations," Aisha answered and pulled Chase along with her into the restaurant. "Hi. I made a reservation online. Its under the name Katar for two." She addressed the host.

The man was of Asian descent and looked to be in his mid-40's as he scanned his guest book. "Ah yes! Aisha Katar; party of two. Come this way please."

It was a rather small and narrow place (in terms of restaurants), but they were in Manhattan, everything and anything was squeezed everywhere. They were seated at one of the many white tables-for-two and were handed their menus.

"Is there anything I can get you to begin with?"

"Yeah, can I get a Mai-Tai? But in one of your taller glasses and not a lot of ice, please."  
"Since you're drinking, I guess that makes me the designated driver for today, so I'll have green tea."

"Were you honestly gonna let _me _be the designated driver and drive _your_ car?" Aisha laughed.

"When you put it like that...No. I think I like this set up better."

"So one Mai-Tai and one green tea. Do you know which appetizer you'd like?" their waiter asked as he scribbled something into his little order pad.

"Aisha, what do you want?"

"No, no, no. Since _I_ picked what we were gonna do today, _you_ get to pick what we're eating," Aisha stated and closed her menu.

"Alright," Chase sighed, "Bring us the Thai Fried Shrimp and, I don't know, I guess we'll try the Curry Puff."

"Okay, I'll leave the menus with you while I get your starters. I'll be right back."

"Ohh good choices." Aisha smiled at Chase once the waiter left them.

"I realized that the food cannot be _that_ bad here so anything would be fine."

"Well how do you now that I didn't take you to an awful restaurant?"

Chase paused from reading his menu as he thought, but after a few seconds he shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I don't know," he smiled. "The happiness of my taste buds is left in your soft, graceful hands."

Chase took Aisha's hands in his and pressed them to his lips. Aisha smiled and her caramel cheeks turned a slightly pink color as the waiter returned with their drinks.

- - TWO HOURS LATER - -

"Do you wanna come in for coffee?" Aisha asked as she turned to unlock her apartment door.

Chase leaned towards her until his lips were right next to her ear. "Of course I do," he whispered to her as her scent of lavender and roses filled his nose.

She faced him and looked into his eyes biting her lower lip to hold back her smile which failed when her lips parted into a grin as she giggled from the shivers his voice gave her. Chase smiled back at her and the two of them entered into her apartment.

"Geez I've been waiting here all day! I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to come home," a female voice with a strong Spanish accent stated when Chase and Aisha walked in.

"Mamma?" Aisha asked in surprise.

"Of course it's me _hija_. I got here at two and you weren't here so I decided to stick around until you got back." Aisha's mother looked exactly as she did all those centuries ago when Chase last saw her. Because she didn't age, she looked as though she could be Aisha's sister instead of her mother except that her skin tone was paler than Aisha's. Her jet black hair sat on the shoulders of her light pink tea-length dress in big loose curls.

"Its six o'clock now! So you've been here for four hours?" Aisha asked as she went hug her mother. "You could've at least called me to let me know that you were coming home early." The mother's vibrant purple eyes flashed an evil look at Chase over Aisha's shoulder as she returned the hug.

"Oh don't worry about it _hija_. So who is your friend there?" She asked as they let go of each other.

Aisha stepped back so that her mother and Chase could see each other. "Mamma, this is Chase Young." She said pointing at Chase. "And Chase, this is my mother, Isabella Katar."

Isabella extended her hand towards Chase and he came over and shook it. "It's nice to meet you Chase," she smiled at him with a hint of malice.

"The pleasure is all mine," he replied with his smirk. "But I wonder if we have met before?"

They suddenly released each other's hand as they each received a shock of dark power from their contact.

A smirk of her own appeared on Isabella's lips when she answered, "I was wondering the same thing Mr. Young. But of course, the chances of that are highly unlikely."

"They might be, but then again, anything can happen in this world."

"So what brought you home so soon Mamma?" Aisha asked as she stepped into the kitchen and prepared the coffee.

"Oh just some familial matters popped up that I have to take care of and I thought I'd stop by to visit you, Hija."

Aisha reached into her cabinet and started to wipe down a few coffee mugs, "I hope it's nothing serious. Do you want some coffee?"

"Well there is a _small_ matter that I wanted to discuss with you," Isabella answered and then looked over to Chase, "but since you have _company_ it can wait until later."

The stare down between Chase and Isabella continued as he replied, "Aisha, I can go if you need to speak to your mother."

"Oh Mamma, he'll only be here for a few minutes for coffee. It can't wait?"

"Aisha, really, it's alright. I can take my leave." He backed towards the door and with a slight bow addressed Isabella. "Mrs. Katar."

"Goodbye Mr. Young," the woman replied from her seat.

"Alright then." Aisha opened the door for him and leaned out of it when he walked into the hall.

"Call me later," Chase requested of her.

"Of course," she said with a smile.

He smiled back at her before he turned and made his way back to his own apartment.  
Aisha stayed in the doorway and watched him until he disappeared around the corner before returning to her mother.

"So what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" She asked as she went back to making coffee.

"I wanted to speak to you about him, that man I just met, Chase Young," her mother replied.

Aisha paused what she was doing and hesitantly asked, "Why? What do you know about him?"

* * *

**AHHHHHHHHH finally finished chapter 6!! That took way longer than it was supposed to but once again, it's all school's fault, even though they took me to Disney this weekend.**

**Until next time everyone!**


	7. Chapter 7

**GGAAAHHHH this is late...again...i'm an awful person...but at least its long! XD**

**ENJOY! ((p.s.:: don't hate me at the end please! hint: the rating was upped))**

* * *

**The Past is Back**

**Chapter 7**

_*DING DONG*_

It had been about two hours since he left Aisha and her mother in her apartment and he wasn't expecting anyone to stop by. Chase put down the book he was reading and went to answer the door.

When he opened it, in front of him stood Isabella with a suspiciously warm smile on her face.

"Hello there, Chase," she greeted him.

"You look as though you just stepped out of a movie from the 1950's," was all Chase said as a reply.

"It's good to see you again too. May I come in?"

Chase remained silent but stepped aside any way to let her into the apartment.

"Do you have anything to drink? I'm a bit parched," she said innocently as she dropped herself onto Chase's black leather couch.

"Cut the bullshit, Malesifant. You can't just waltz in here after disappearing for 400 years thinking that everything is alright, especially since I know that you've had her all this time."

"My hands were a bit tied in that situation."

"Tied? _Tied? _How were hands _tied_? All you had to when you found her was return her to me. What was so hard about that? Have you forgotten who I am?" Chase's anger was mounting; he had literally waited centuries for this one conversation.

"I haven't forgotten who _you _are, but you have obviously forgotten who _I_ am. _I_ have what _you_ want, you don't anger someone with that power especially when you're in the awful position that you're in."

"I'm in the position to rip your throat out of your neck if you do not tell me what I want to hear. And from that point of view it seems as though _you_ are the one in the awful position."

Isabella's nose slightly flared as her rageful nature began to show itself on her face. "You had better watch yourself, boy. Though you may think that you're all powerful now, you must remember that I've been involved with my powers for 3 centuries before you were even a thought in your mother's mind. Now do you want her back or not?"

"Of course I want her back, and I will get her back with, but hopefully without, your help."

"Well if you're not going to allow me to help you then that means that I have to work against you on this." A bit of a wicked smile appeared on her lips at the realization.

"Were you not the one who came to me for help all those years ago? Why are you making this so difficult?" In an effort to control his anger, Chase allowed himself to become a bit more animated in his speech. In his last sentence he even threw his hands up in the air in frustration.

"Oh well that's simple: I just don't trust you," Isabella replied matter-of-factly.

A look of confusion quickly flashed across Chase's face as he tried to understand her reasoning. "So you trusted me all those years ago when you had no idea who I was, but now that you know me better, you do not trust me?"

"Exactly. I trusted you to protect my daughter before and you failed so right now I feel as though I can't trust her with you again."

"It's not my fault that your daughter hardly listened to what I told her and did whatever she wanted whenever she felt like it."

Isabella remained silent with her violet eyes trained on Chase and her wicked smile of amusement properly placed as he continued.

"She has done this to you, and you know it, to her father, and to me. But I didn't give up on her. You know that I have spent the last fifteen-hundred years searching this damned earth for her, destroying for her, killing for her. And now you come to me telling me that I cannot have her because you don't trust me? Well I am _not_ going to bend to your will. I will bring her back to me and there is nothing that you can do to stop me."

A silence slowly passed between the two of them as Isabella rose from the couch with a sigh and patted down the pleats of her dress and then walked to the door.

Her smile was now gone and her face held a slightly serious look, "It seems that I was wrong then. A person doesn't scour the world for a millennia and a half in search of an ultimate power."

"So does this mean that you will step aside?"

"...I guess we will just have to wait and see. . . .Ciao, Mr. Young." And with that, Isabella let herself out of the apartment and left.

After waiting about a minute after she had left, Chase picked up the closest thing near him (which happened to be a painting from the wall) and chucked it clear across the room with an angry growl. A few seconds later, the leather recliner next to him spontaneously combusted in a black flame.

- - -A COUPLE OF WEEKS LATER- - -

Aisha checked the time on her phone and sighed, _'3 a.m. ... Great, maybe I'll call out sick on Monday. I need to recuperate.'_ She thought as she dragged herself to her apartment door. _'Ughh I feel so old, I haven't felt this badly in such a long time... Well I guess that's what I get for overindulging in my cravings. . .'_

After much groaning and pain, she managed to get her key out of her pocket and into the door but then stopped to shift the strap of the duffel bag she was carrying on her right shoulder.

"Aisha?" A voice broke the otherwise silence of the hallway.

Aisha froze and her heart almost stopped when she heard her name called. She feared to turn around and see the person she was avoiding.

"Aisha? Are you alright? Where have you been?" Stepping into her line of vision, she saw that it was Chase who was addressing her as he approached her.

Aisha let out a small sigh of relief and relaxed a little. "Oh I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to talk to you. I caught some crazy illness and had Erica bring me to the hospital like a week ago," she lied and let out a little cough. "I thought she was supposed to let everyone know where I was."

"Well she conveniently forgot about me," Chase replied with a small smile. "How are you feeling? You still look very ill; no offense." He reached out his hand to stroke the top of her head.

She quickly leaned away from him and coughed, "I'm still feeling like shit. Y'know with the chills, the shakes, and dizziness."

"Then what are you doing out of the hospital? They let you out in this condition?" He was beginning to get worried as he gave her a once over. She was pale again, just as she had been that night of the engagement party, if not paler. She was wobbling a little as she spoke and she even had a slight gauntness about her.

"_Shhh! _Don't tell anyone," she began in a whisper with a bit of a mischievous smile, "but I just signed myself out of the hospital."

"What? Why?"

"I was locked in there for over a week and I was starting to get a little stir crazy and homesick."

"...They really let you go?"

"_Well_ I kinda really snuck out."

"Now that makes more sense," Chase replied as he went to take her duffel bag from her, she looked as though she was going to collapse under its weight.

"No, no, no. It's okay, I got it," Aisha told him as she pushed open her apartment door.

"Really, I'm just gonna drop it right next to the door when I get in."

"Okay, tough girl," and he complied by releasing her bag.

"Thank you though."

"No problem."

"Well, good morning, Mr. Young," Aisha said after a short pause with a small smile.

Chase looked down at his watch before replying with his own smile, "Good morning, Ms. Katar." And with that he departed down the hallway. Aisha watched him until he rounded the corner to the elevators and then quickly checked the other side of the hall before going into her apartment and closing the door.

Once she let her obnoxious duffel bag drop on the floor, she gave out a great sigh of relief; it felt as though the world was lifted from her shoulders; and then the exhaustion and sweet temptation of slumber hit her again. Her mind was so fogged by her sleepiness that she tripped over her own feet and promptly landed on the floor. She let out a low whine at her momentary pain and then slowly forced herself up on all fours and began to drag herself towards her room. But then she noticed how soft and fluffy her carpet really was and let herself fall back onto the floor and fell asleep. . .

What felt like some five minutes later, Aisha partially opened her eyes to the sound of someone banging loudly on something.

_'. . . Hell no. . . .'_ she managed to think when she thought that it was someone knocking on her door and closed her eyes again as she fell asleep.

Another five minutes passed when Aisha reawaked and found herself sliding across her apartment floor. "What the hell?" she questioned as she looked ahead of her to see her sweatpants-clad legs begin held in the air by someone.

That someone turned around with an all-too friendly smile, "Well good morning, gorgeous."

Aisha's heart skipped a beat when she saw the intruder and screamed.

"Aww c'mon Aisha, is that any way to greet your guest?" The man asked as he leaned towards her to cover her mouth but immediately removed it when she bit his finger.

"How did you find me?" She said with a voice coated in fear as she began to hyperventilate. This was who she was trying to stay away from that night. _'But how the hell did he find me? The address I gave him was on Long Island."_

"I'm a club owner, I got connections."

"...So what are you doing here?"

"Well when I found out that you _quit_ on me earlier, I realized that I never got a chance to collect what you owe me."

"I don't owe a damn thing! You didn't even pay me! I worked off the tips I made which you took 10% of every week anyway!"

The man let her legs go and stood over her with each of his legs on either side of Aisha's body as she lay flat on her back. "I'm not talkin' about money," he replied as he lowered his body and placed all of his weight on her lower abdomen. She was trapped and didn't know what to do about it. Her mind was still so fogged by her exhaustion that she wasn't very alarmed by the situation. _'I mean...I should have expected this...'_

"You really broke into my apartment for _that_? Are you fucking serious,Tony?"

The man named Tony slid her hands along the floor up over her hand and held them in place. "Yes," was his simply stated answer. The next second, Aisha felt something tugging on the bottom of her sweatpants and looked over Tony's shoulder to see a second man succeed in pulling them off.

"What the _fuck_! Tony, I'm gonna scream; you know I'm gonna scream." Aisha threatened as the man who removed her sweat pants came over to hold her hands down where Tony had just put them.

"Fine, scream all you want. Its not gonna help anything."

And just as he finished his sentence, Aisha let out a blood-curdling scream that even caused her glass coffee table to shake.

"Oh my _God_! Shut up!" Tony growled and covered her mouth with his hands. "Shut _up!_"

*_DING DONG!_

_"_Who the hell is that?" Tony shouted. "Are you expecting anyone?" Aisha shook her head. Tony sighed and nodded to the other man as he stood up. The other man's hand replaced Tony's spot over Aisha's mouth and lifted her off the floor.

"Yes?" Tony asked of the person at the door.

The man at the door gave Tony a skeptical look, "May I speak to Aisha?" Her eyes widened, she recognized that voice.

"She's asleep. Now who the hell are you?" Aisha tried to scream behind Tony's goon's hand but it only sounded like a high-pitched squeal.

"That is none of your concern. I know she isn't asleep, I just heard her scream."

Aisha bit one of the fingers of the man who was holding her. "Chase!" she shouted as she elbowed her captor before easily flipping him over her shoulder.

In one swift move, Chase moved Tony (with the door) out of his way and stepped into the apartment. "Aisha, I heard you scream. Are you alright?"

"I've had better days," she replied and stepped on the man that was now on the floor.

"Ugghhhh...My nose! You asshole! You broke my fucking nose!" Tony announced as he stepped from behind the door and slammed it shut.

"Who is this loud man?" Chase asked.

"Umm, well thats Tony. And the guy on the floor is John. They stopped by for a _quick visit_, but now they were about to _leave._ Right Tony?"

Tony was occupying himself with trying to set his bleeding nose. "Hell nah! You bozzo of a protector just broke my nose, so now I'mma have to break his frickin' neck." Through his anger, he suddenly had a thick New Jersey accent.

"What? Dammit, no fighting! If you get anymore blood on my carpet, I will kill you so help me God!" Aisha threatened, but her words fell on deaf ears as Chase turned around and gently pushed Aisha behind him as he addressed Tony.

"I would _love _to see you try," Chase smirked as he reveled in the prospect of a fight. "Aisha, go to your room and stay there until I say its alright for you to come out."

She wanted to protest, she knew she should. If the fight got serious enough, her carpet would be ruined, then they probably would have to go to the hospital, and they'd ask what happened, then the police would get involved, and then she'd have to worry about all those people Tony was involved with...The consequences of a fight were messy and complicated...But she heeded Chase's request anyway and ran straight to her room and locked the door. After about five mintues of screaming, loud thuds, and what sounded like bones being broken, Aisha peeped through her door when everything was silent.

"_Ahhhh!_ Are they-? Oh my-! _What did you do_?" Chase turned around to Aisha, who had come out of her room, standing there in shock.

"Aisha, its alright, I can explain," he started in an effort to console her.

"This is awful!" she screamed as she waved her arms around in her flustered state. Aisha's gaze remained towards the scene in front of her: the two would-be-rapists from ten minutes earlier now lay dead and covered in their own blood all over Aisha's white carpet. The sofa right behind them was also splattered in the dead men's blood.

As Aisha moved to the blood bath, Chase continued to calm her. "Don't worry, I can make them disappear."

"What? How?"

"It's magic, it will look like they were never here."

Aisha had dropped herself next to her sofa and hugged it. "You can really do that?"

Chase paused as his mind wrapped around what he was seeing. Two men were now dead in Aisha's living room, yet she was hugging her sofa...?

"Are we both concerned about the same things here?" he asked cautiously.

Aisha's purple eyes looked bigger now and an innocent look was painted on her face, "What?"

"I am talking about cleaning up the dead bodies here and covering up a murder," Chase explained, "And you are talking about?"

"Oh well...I don't know how to put this. Um...please don't be appalled but um...I was talking about cleaning the blood off my couch and carpet. Do you know how hard it is to find a 100% genuine white leather couch and keep it clean?"

When Aisha finished speaking, a smile spread across Chase's face as he walked towards her kneeling form and cupped her chin in his hand, titling her head up so that their eyes met, "I think I love you."

However, all Aisha heard when the room suddenly became brighter and had a golden hue as she stared up at Chase's eyes was: "Its alright, you did good for your first kill."

"What...?" was was the last thing she said before everything began spinning and then suddenly went black.

- - -LATER THAT DAY - - -

Aisha awoke to the heavenly aroma of cooking food. She inhaled the scent and turned her head to see that her digital alarm clock read 1:00 PM and then let out a low, groggy growl of frustration. But then she caught the whiff of lunch again and suddenly found herself very hungry.

She rolled out of bed and yawned as she made her way to the kitchen, _'Aww! Erica's so nice! She's making me eggs!'_

But when she rounded the corner to her kitchen, she did not see her best friend Erica standing in front of her stove frying eggs, but a man with long black hair standing in her friend's place.

_'Fuucckk!'_ Aisha thought when memories from earlier that morning suddenly flooded her mind and she realized that she had neither combed her hair nor brushed her teeth before coming to the kitchen. She quickly turned around and tried to stealthily make her way back towards the bathroom but she didn't get very far.

"Aisha, good, you're awake. Come sit," Chase's voice coolly commanded and Aisha complied as she wrapped her robe around her tighter.

"Hmm well trust me, I would've been asleep for days if the smell of your cooking didn't wake me up," she replied. "But seriously, you _cook_? Is there anything that you can't do?"

Chase turned around with a prideful smirk and carrying a plate piled with pancakes. "No, I can pretty much do everything."

He placed the plate on the kitchen table. "Yeah right, I bet you can't fly!"

"No, I can fly, too." And he returned to his cooking all the while smiling at the irony of her questions as Aisha clearly did not understand that he was telling her the truth.

"Oh, so now you're Superman?" Aisha asked with mock incredulousness in continuation of the joke as she began to eat the six pancakes in front of her.

"I guess that is the best analogy. Except, I have telekinetic powers, no laser vision, and I'm immortal."

"Aww c'mon man, immortality? That's really pushing it."

"No, I'm serious. Remember when I told you I was 1500 years old? I wasn't joking."

Aisha paused; why did she want to believe that was his real age? Was it because she knew that if she could live for 1500 years, then it was possible that other people could too?

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just make sure you don't get any hair in my eggs," she joked in an effort to change the subject.

"You don't have to worry about that, each strand of my hair perfectly stays in place," Chase responded and walked to the table with two plates in his hands covered with scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage patties. "Wait, did I not put a plate of pancakes on the table a few minutes ago?"

Aisha was silent for a moment when she looked at the now empty plate of pancakes. "Um...yeah you did...those weren't mine?"

"There were six pancakes on that plate. You mean to tell me that you normally eat six pancakes every morning?"

"What no. I'm so sorry, but I'm _starving_ and I didn't even realize that I was eating them. Forgive me!"

"Calm down, they were just pancakes." Chase had a feeling that she would be hungry when she awoke, but not _that_ hungry.

"But they were _your_ pancakes that I ate, and eating other people's food isn't right. I'll go make you some new ones," Aisha stated and she got up and went over to her stove.

"Aisha, don't worry about it. Now come sit and eat your eggs."

"Are you sure?"

"I am postive."

"Okay," Aisha shrugged as she sat back in her seat and began to eat the second half of her 'breakfast' in a comfortable silence.

"Oh wow, I see you got the stains out of my couch and carpet," she suddenly realized as she looked towards her spotless white living room. "And the dead bodies are gone too."

"Hn? Oh yeah. I told you I could get rid of them."

"But _how_ did you do it. Its like they were never there!"

"Do you believe in magic?"

"...In a young girl's heart! How the music can free her, whenever it starts!" she started singing from her seat. "And its magic, if the...music...is...You don't know the song, do you?"

"No, I have no idea what that song is."

"Well its not important. But really, how did you clean everything up?"

"I told, it was magic."

"So now you're a magic Superman?"

"...Yes."

"Well my supernatural Superman, I owe you one. Maybe two. Anything you ask...well, _almost_ anything."

Chase paused his eating as he thought. "What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Um, well since you're technically my boss, I should tell you that I'm going to work tomorrow. But I'll most likely stay home. Why? What'd you want me to do?"

"Hm, I actually forgot that you worked for me...technically," he smiled at her and she returned it. "But Kiara willbeout of school tomorrow and I don't know what to do with her and because I have a packed schedule I cannot be home to watch her. Would you mind babysitting for a few hours?"

"Um, sure?" Aisha answered with clear hesitation. She had only met the girl once, and now Chase was entrusting her well being to her for a whole day? _'Well I did say _anything_...'_ her mind remembered.

"Kiara truly adores you. Ever since she met you she would not stop asking about you," Chase said in an effort to change Aisha's mind since he heard the hesitation in her voice.

"Okay, okay! I'll be there tomorrow," she laughed. "But what would you have done if I did go into work?"

"As your boss I would've had you watch my neice instead anyway. She does not do well with professional nannies...We've gone through four since we arrived in New York."

"Ohh," Aisha nodded with understanding and continued the rest of her meal.

When they were almost done eating, Chase broke the momentary silence. "So would you like to discuss what happened earlier this morning?"

Aisha paused. _'Should I tell him? I should tell him, he deserves to know why he killed two people yesterday...'_

"You're definitely not gonna want to deal with me anymore if I tell you."

"And why is that?" Chase asked and slightly tilted his head to his left as he watched her movements.

Aisha looked up from her plate at him as she began to speak again, but paused for a second time when her eyes met his. Suddenly she felt scared and nervous. His eyes, his golden amber eyes, made her feel the same alarm she did when he mentioned her 'tattoos' a few weeks back. She felt trapped by a predator who definitely knew more than he was letting on, but she caved anyway. "It all started in my junior year of high school. A short time after my father died. I couldn't feel anything after his death; no happiness, no fear, no pain. . . .My mother tried everything, but nothing worked; I had never felt so empty in my entire life. Until I went to a party one night with a friend. That night I think I learned how to feel again."

"That was probably the most vague answer anyone has ever given me. And it did not even answer my question."

"I'm gettin' to it, I'm gettin' to it. By my freshman year of college, I was completely immersed in that life. And then Tony, stepped in and offered me a deal that seemed like a win-win situation to me: I could get what I wanted and needed, and I would get paid to do it."

"And what was that offer?" Chase asked. He was beginning to have an idea of what Aisha had gotten herself into. _'So she was an assassin. That explains her absolute non-chalance towards death. And in the deal she could also quell her cravings. . .'_

"Chase, are you understanding me? For _years_ I slaved away by doing something completely _awful_ and immoral and harmful to myself to the point where I don't even think I can forgive myself. It wasn't until recently, well actually, right before I met you, that I decided that I needed to stop my habits and fix my life," she continued as she went to the sink to wash her plate.

"Aisha, believe me when I say that whatever it was you did, I have probably done other things that can be considered 1,000 times more morally decrepit." Chase stepped up to her and gently turned her head to face him, "Whatever it is, I forgive you for it."

Aisha's eyes were wet with threatening tears as they met Chase's. "...Chase, I have a...a problem...its really more of an addiction. . ." The shame of it all was starting to get to her; the pressure of facing her personal demons and past sins was becoming too much under Chase's concerned, golden gaze.

"Aisha, I want to you to trust me." His hands now held her in place by her upper arms as she nodded.

A long pause followed as she decided how to word her predicament. ". . . I've led a very. . . _unchaste_ life."

Chase remained silent as his expression changed from concerned to confused. _Chaste_ wasn't a word he heard very much throughout his long life and he just could not remember its meaning; all he did remember was that he hadn't practiced it since his Xiaolin days. . .

"Oh God, do I have to spell it out for you?" Aisha sighed in exasperation. And Chase remained silent, partially lost in his mind searching for a meaning to go with the word 'unchaste'. "Chase, I'm a nymphomaniac! A _slut, _a_ whore, _a_ harlot, _a_ tramp_! And Tony...Tony owned the strip club I had just quit last night."

The expression on Chase's face slowly changed from blank to one of slight disgust and shock. Aisha saw the change in his face and shoved him away from her as she ran to her room. Once she slammed the door shut, she leaned her back against it and slid down to the floor as hot tears ran down her face.

Chase remained where he was for a few extra moments as his mind attempted to register this new information.

_'She's...she's...'_

**_'A nymphomaniac, a slut, a harlot, a tramp. In that order I think,'_ **the dragon within him finished.

_'...tainted...'_

**_'Ooo, you're getting very angry. Does this mean that we're gonna go kill every man she's fucked?'_**

_'..._every_ man?...'_

**_'Well yeah. She's a nymphomaniac; she's obessed with sex...And since she isn't married yet, and you haven't been in contact with her in 1500 years, its very safe to say that she's climbed into bed with more than one, if not _many, _men,.'_ **the Heylin dragon 'helpfully' deducted.

Chase was prepared for _everything_, except for this harsh reality. His mind could not wrap around the idea that his Aisha gave herself to someone.

_**'Someones...plural,'** _the dragon reminded him. In that instant Chase mentally returned to reality and realized that Aisha was no longer standing in front of him. His anger and confusion subsided (for now) as he concentrated on keeping her with him.

"Aisha?" Chase called as he went to her bedroom door. He could hear her sniffling on the other side of the door.

"Go away! I get it if you don't want to talk to me ever again!" She sobbed. _'I screwed up! I screwed up so bad! I should've listened to Mamma and stayed away from him! Ughh! He's gonna leave me for sure now!'_

Chase sat on the floor and leaned against the door, "I am not going anywhere." His voice was low and soft but carried successfully through the door to Aisha's ear. "Remember? I said that I would forgive you, no matter what you did in your past."

The sincereity of his voice made her sob even harder. "Would you stop being so nice! I don't deserve it!"

_Nice_; another word that he didn't hear very often. The last time she had complimented him was the night of her birthday, the night before she disappeared. _'She that I was so good to her that she would forget I was Heylin at times.'_ Those were better times, mostly because she was with him; and she wasn't crying. He hated it when she cried, usually because most of the time he was the direct or indirect cause of her tears. "Aisha, open the door," his request sounded more like a statement.

Aisha's sobs dwindled down to short sniffles; a few seconds later, the door knob clicked as the door opened up a little. Chase turned to gaze into the two lavender eyes that appeared in the doorway. He cupped her face with both of his hands and wiped away the tears that ran down her face with his thumbs. "Please stop crying. I hate seeing you cry."

More emotions built up inside of her at his electrifying touch. "I'm so sorry!" She wailed before letting herself fall towards him and weeped into his sweater.

Chase remained silent as he let her cry again. With his right hand, he repeatedly brushed her hair while he held her close to him with his left arm. His head reted atop of hers and he let his senses go numb as he took in her unforgettably intoxicating scent.

She wrapped her arms around his back and relaxed even further into his embrace. Every place on her body that he came in physical contact with was filled with a tingling sensation that felt so good to her. She felt so perfect in his protective arms and she soon begn to calm down.

"You have no reason to apologize," Chase said in a voice that was barely louder than a whisper. He wanted to stay with her like this forever; it had been too long since he last had her in his arms. But he knew that their eternity together would begin when she would finally remember their past together; he would just have to be patient. "So I will see you tomorrow mornig?"

Aisha lifted her head and looked at him with skeptical eyes, "You still want me to watch Kiara? Even after ..._that_?"

"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

"Well-I just told- Okay, nevermind. What time do you want me there?"

"7:30 is good, I have to catch an 8:15 train."

"Anything for you, Chase." And she moved her arms from around his back to around his neck and hugged him again.

* * *

**EFFF BOMB~! I'm soooo late! UGHHH! I"M SORRY! FORGIVE ME! But between school stuff, graduation, parties, work, writing, deleteing, and rewriting, I've FINALLY finished this chapter...and its the longest so far in this story.**

**oh and also...i'm sorry that I made Aisha a slutbag...PLEASE DONT HATE ME! She IS a _former_ slutbag if that makes things better...ok, no it doesn't...I just needed a reason to have Chase have a borderline mental meltdown.**

**But I hope you enjoyed it anyway! (don't expect the next chapter til like august...but we all know how i am with deadlines so it'll probably be up just in time for school again XD)**

**UNTIL NEXT TIME! (if you guys are still reading this...i dont even know...no one reviews anymore... :'(**


	8. Chapter 8

**OkAY! sorry about that, its late...again...but only by a 10 days this time! Ummmm not much to say about this one... chapter 9 is like 3/4 of the way done so i'll probabyl be nice and have it up by next week. Vacation gave me lots of time to write.**

**ENJOY and REVIEW PLEASE!**

* * *

**The Past is Back**

**Chapter 8**

"Ae Cha, Ae Cha, wake up," Chase whispered in the sleeping girl's ear. Her nose twitched at the sound of his voice and then her eyes opened immediately. "Come on, get up. You have half an hour to get dressed before your sitter gets here."

Kiara sat up in her bed at his command. Chase was her father and she usually listened to what her father told her without hesitation. . . .Just kidding. "Sitter? You got me a sitter? What for? Why can't I go with you to where ever it is you're going?"

Chase was now standing at his full height as he finished buttoning up his white dress shirt. "What is this, Twenty Questions? Just do as I say please."

"But have you forgotten what happened with the last sitter you got me?"

"No I have not forgotten about the last sitter. But I am sure that you will like this one."

"For their sake I hope so," Kiara mumbled as she stood up on her bed and began to tie Chase's black tie while he buttoned the cuffs of his shirt sleeves. "And I'm not responsible for anything that happens to them as a result of their stupidity and ignorance."

"Depending on what happens, yes you will be held responsible. But you should not have any problems with this one so I am not worried. Thank you."

Kiara hopped off her bed when she finished with his tie and began to dig through her dresser for clothes. "You're more sure of yourself than usual, Abidah."

"And is that a bad thing?" Chase smirked.

"I'm not sure yet, but it makes me _very_ suspicious of you today," the little girl stated as she carried her clothes with her to the bathroom.

"I don't hear the water running!" Chase called from his own room.

"You _do _have so sort of trick up your sleeve!" Kiara exclaimed before she turned on the shower.

_'She knows me too well_,' Chase thought as he grabbed his suit jacket and a few other things from his room. Today was going to be an interestingly busy day for him and the last thing he needed was a little girl following and distracting him and this would give Kiara and Aisha some good bonding time.

Twenty minutes later, Kiara walked into the kitchen in a t-shirt and denim jeans.

"What would you like for breakfast?" Chase asked as he looked in the fridge.

"Mmmm, do you have time to make me some pot stickers?" She asked from her seat at the kitchen table.

"From scratch? No, but I can fry the frozen ones for you before I leave."

"Okay," Kiara replied. Her warm hazel eyes followed her father across the kitchen. "Exactly where are you going today, Abidah?"

Chase sighed as he let the frozen pot stickers begin to sizzle in the pan. "Well first I need to speak to Aisha's friend, Erica. Then I have to hunt down your witch of a grandmother for some more answers, and then I need to be back in China to take care of some business."

"So why can't I go with you?"

"I am surprised at you, Ae Cha. I would think after living with me for 1500 years, you would want some space, or at least some time to yourself."

"I'm pretty sure that being put to 'sleep' for decades at a time every century is more than enough time and space to myself."

*_DING DONG*_

Chase and Kiara both paused and looked towards the door.

"That must be the sitter now," he stated with a smirk toward his adopted daughter. "Watch the food." And he walked towards the door as he heard Kiara sigh in slight frustration.

"Thank you again, I am so glad that you could come on such short notice." Chase couldn't help but smile every time he saw her; he hadn't laid eyes on her at all in their near 2,000 year separation, and now he has seen her over a dozen times in the span of the last two months.

And she couldn't help but to smile right back at him. His smile brought her to a peace she hadn't felt in a long time. "Chase, I should be thanking you. You rescued me from those two fools yesterday; watching your niece for the day is only the beginning of me paying you back."

"Oh really? How many more wishes do I get?" Chase joked and stepped aside to let Aisha enter his apartment.

"Hmm, two more. I like to go with the traditional three wishes bit. Now where is the nina that I will be watching today?"

"She's in the kitchen," he answered as he closed the door behind her.

"Thank you," Aisha said as she moved into the kitchen. Upon entering it, she stood in awe for a few seconds as she took in all of its modern, stainless steel, and dark mahogany glory. _'I wonder what strings he had to pull to get his kitchen to look like this...'_

"Aisha!" And she was snapped out of her amazement when she heard a small voice call her name. Kiara hopped from her seat at the kitchen table and ran up to her.

"Hey _chiquita_!" Aisha greeted back and caught the little girl in her arms and hugged her.

"Are _you_ gonna be my sitter for today?"

"Yes I am."

Kiara squealed happily in response and then ran over to Chase and hugged him. "I love you Abidah! I love you _so_ much!"

"And I you, Ae Cha," he replied as he picked her small frame up and rested her on his hip.

"What's that smell?" Aisha asked. She walked into the kitchen and quickly ran to the stove to turn off whatever was burning in the pan; Chase with Kiara followed her in. "What _are_ these?" She asked showing them the frying pan that contained six hard blackened shapes.

"Oh no! My pot stickers!" Kiara gasped; she had completely forgotten about them in her excitement.

"For breakfast?" Aisha asked skeptically.

Chase shrugged, "She doesn't have school today so it's no big deal."

"...Where are your aprons?" Aisha questioned as she threw out the burnt pot stickers.

"Next to the fridge. Why?"

"I'm gonna make breakfast." She opened the refrigerator. "Holy Hell!"

"Is something wrong?"

"Where's your food?"

"What do you mean? There _is_ food in there."

"_This_ is not food, Chase," Aisha replied as she showed him a tray of cupcakes from the fridge. "And neither is _this_ [strawberry ice cream], nor _these _[ice pops], nor _this_ [apple pie], nor _these_ [chocolate covered cream puffs]."

"We have serious sweet teeth," Chase once again shrugged and Kiara nodded in agreement.

Aisha paused as she let her mind process Chase's somewhat ridiculous excuse as to why his fridge was a nutritionist's worst nightmare. "Well in that case, I guess we're going out for breakfast, Kiara."

"Okay!" the little girl complied as she was handed from Chase to Aisha. Once she was in Aisha's arms, Kiara wrapped her childish arms around her shoulders and rested her head against Aisha's with a content sigh. Kiara was finally reunited with her mother; and they were going to spend the whole day together!

"In case you were wondering, I do not let the girl starve to death. We have a personal chef that comes in everyday," Chase explained as he disappeared into his room. "I gave him the day off. Unless you want him to come in and make dinner later."

"No, no its fine. I'll order take out. I mean, if its alright with you."

"You can feed her whatever you want. Just keep her away from caffeine." Chase reentered the kitchen carrying his suit jacket and his briefcase.

"Got it, no coffee," Aisha registered as she put Kiara on her feet on the floor.

"Emergency contacts are on the fridge. If anything goes wrong, call _me_ first."

"Call you first if anything bad happens. No problem."

"Okay, that should be everything." Chase squatted to the floor and hugged Kiara. "Now you be a good girl while I am gone." He stood up again and addressed Aisha, "Thank you so much again. Have fun."

"That shouldn't be too hard," Aisha laughed and with that, Chase was out the door.

**- - -LATER THAT NIGHT- - -**

_'...Why are my feet so warm?'_ Aisha thought randomly in the middle of her sleep. She slowly opened her eyes and from the light cast by the lamp next to her on the nightstand, she saw a large orange and black mass stretched across the foot of the bed. _'What the-?'_ She rubbed the blurriness from her eyes and her heart skipped a beat. There was a full grown tiger sleeping across the bottom of the bed and her feet were trapped under its warm stomach.

Her breathing and heartbeat suddenly began to run at faster paces; she felt a panic attack coming on. Aisha looked to her right to see that Kiara was still asleep curled up next to her.

_'Oh my Lord in Heaven. Holy shit...Holy hell...There's a tiger on a my feet...Ahhhhhhhh! What to do! What to do! . . ._Kiara!_ I need to get Kiara out of here. But how the hell am I gonna do that with a frickin' tiger in the room?'_

Aisha tried to calm herself down as she slowly pulled her feet from under the passed out tiger. She let out a sigh of relief at her success and then carefully picked up Kiara, rolled off the bed, and ran out of the room without waking the tiger. She was still in shock of what she saw as she silently pulled the bedroom door closed behind her.

_'Wait, am I dreaming?'_ she wondered and pinched herself to make sure, '_Ow! Nope, I'm definitely awake... And still alive!'_

She checked the time on the clock on the night stand. The digital clock read 2 AM.

_'What the fuck? Where the hell is Chase?'_ Aisha picked up the cordless phone and ran to the kitchen to check Chase's cell phone number.

After frantically punching the numbers into the phone, she listened to it ring a couple of times before Chase answered.

"Aisha? Is something the the matter?"

"Well for one thing: Where the hell are you? Its like two in the morning and you haven't come home yet!" she answered in a hushed, panicked voice as to not wake Kiara.

"Oh, I'm in Bejing right now," Chase replied a little too casually.

". . .Bejing?"Aisha repeated with disbelief. "You're in another _country_? You said that I would be watching Kiara for a few _hours,_ not a _two_ _days_!"

"I'm sorry for not calling. Something came up and I had to catch the first flight here. So why did you call? Did something happen?"

"Oh right, about that. Um there's a tiger on Kiara's bed." Aisha responded nervously as she remembered what caused her to call him in the first place.

A long pause followed on Chase's end. ". . .There is a _what_ on Kiara's bed?"

"A tiger."

Another extended moment of silence. ". . . Are you drunk? Did you find the sake?"

"What? I would never drink while I'm babysitting."

"Well are you sure you did not see Kiara's stuffed animal?"

"Chase, I'm telling you, its a _full grown_ tiger."

". . .There is a full grown tiger, in my apartment. . . in New York City?"

"...Essentially? Yes."

Chase let out an exasperated sigh on the other side of the phone. He couldn't believe this was happening; Haidar never did listen to him. "Where are you now?"

"I'm in your kitchen and Kiara's asleep on the couch."

"Okay, just keep the door to her room closed. I'll be home in a few hours."  
"Alright. You better mean it this time."

"I do. Now go get some rest."

"...I'll try. See you later then."

Chase slide his phone back into his pocket when Aisha hung up and then turned his attention back to the man cowering before him on the floor. "Now, where were we," Chase glanced at the list in his hand, "...Gary?"

"No, please!" the man named Gary begged before he let out a fearful scream and was silenced forever.

_'Turns out that Erica was good for something after all,'_ Chase thought with a malicious smirk as he crossed Gary's name off his list.

**- - EARLIER THAT DAY - -**

"Chase," Erica said flatly when she opened her front door. She was on her way to work, but wasn't very surprised to see Chase standing outside of her home.

"Erica," Chase responded.

"I went through a lot of trouble getting this for you. The escort world is founded on anonymous-ness; but I managed to get a few names for you. I know its not all of them, for the past year she's been binging once a month, but they've probably already been taken care of," Erica explained as she handed Chase a few sheets of paper.

He flipped through the stapled sheets casually. "What do you mean 'already taken care of'?"

"You're not the only jealous man in Aisha's life. Illario's constantly following her when she goes out clubbing so he probably got to most of them already."

Chase remained silent for a few moments, his eyes still on the list. He muttered a quiet 'Thank you' before literally disappearing into the air.

"Your welcome," Erica shouted with some disdain at the abruptness of their entire meeting and continued on her way to work.

**- - THE NEXT MORNING - -**

"This is bad," Aisha heard a voice say. It sounded familiar, but she was tired and didn't want to wake up to find out who it was.

"Well at least things can move along a little faster," another, higher pitched voice added.

"But if we move too quickly, our plans might fall apart," the first voice responded. Now Aisha was curious, she slowly opened her eyes and stretched. And realized that she was on Chase's couch, and remembered that she slept over.

"Good morning guys," she smiled and her eyes moved from Chase's to Kiara's and stopped on the tiger that sat nicely next to Kiara. "_AHHH! _The tiger!" she exclaimed and nearly fell over the armrest of the couch.

"Aisha, calm down, he's perfectly safe to be around," Chase said in an effort to console her.

"It's a _tiger_! Tigers eat people! Didn't you see what happened to Roy and his white tiger?"

"Who's Roy?" Kiara asked in her innocent, naive way as she stroked her pet tiger's head.

"This is different, We don't perform life threatening tricks with Haidar and we have had him for much longer than 7 years," Chase explained.

"Wait, really, who's Roy?" Kiara asked again.

Aisha was beginning to calm down as the tiger laid down on the floor. "Well. . .How long have you had him?"

Chase opened his mouth to answer but Kiara beat him to it. "About 1500 years and counting."

Chase sighed as he massaged his temples; he was planning on lying to Aisha for the time being. Aisha's face went completely blank.

"_What?_"

"We've had Haidar for about one thousand, five hundred years," Kiara repeated. "We're all that age. Even you."

"Well I know _I've_ been around for that long, but there's no way that _you_ could've made it."

A silence fell among them after Aisha's statement.

"So you know that you are over 1500 years old?" Chase asked of her.

_'Shit.'_ Aisha thought. _'Fuck.'_ She hadn't meant to reveal that to them...or _anyone_ for that matter. _'But they're just as old. . . . Wow I really wasn't expecting so many other people to have lived that long.'_

"Well the cat's out of the bag now," she shrugged. "Yeah, I'm old."

"Not in comparison to your mother," Chase muttered under his breath.

"What was that about my mother?"

"He...said he was surprised that you weren't told by your mother!" Kiara quickly covered up. "You know, that we're all the same age."

"My mother knows?"

"Well yeah, she's my gran-" Chase swiftly covered Kiara's mouth with his hand.

"That's enough Ae cha. I think you should go get ready for school."

Kiara nodded and started for her room.

"Take Haidar with you please," Chase added and Kiara grabbed the tiger by his black, diamond studded collar and they left for her room.

"Chase," Aisha started after an extended silence, ". . . What the hell is going on?"

The dark haired man sighed, his plans were practically burning before his very eyes. "You should call out from work again today. This is going to take some explaining."

Aisha nodded and dialed the number to her job on her cell phone. "Hi Diane, its me, Aisha. I'm still not feeling too great, can you tell Racheal that I won't be coming in again today? . . . Thank so much. . . Okay, bye."

"So I am going to need you to keep an open mind about all of this." Aisha silently nodded and mentally prepared her mind for the worst.


	9. Chapter 9

**Dun-Dun-DUN! Chase explains it all! (or most of it anyway) And I realized that I made a mistake in the original story...dammit...oh well, its not that serious...actually, to clear it up, in chapter one of the prequel, they both lied about their ages. There,problem solved, no more stress.**

**Oh and about 2 years have passed since the last episode.**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

**The Past is Back**

**Chapter 9**

"So I am going to need you to keep an open mind about all of this." Aisha silently nodded and mentally prepared her mind for the worst. "Where would you like for me to start?"

"Um, the beginning would be good," Aisha replied, "like your real name, when you were born. All that good stuff."

"Well my real name is Chase Young, I did not lie about that. As I told you, I am originally from Korea, but I currently reside in China. And I was born on March 6th about 1500 years ago. I don't exactly remember the year, I stopped keeping track of it centuries ago."

Aisha remained silent for a moment and thought about her next question. ". . . So you're immortal?" Chase nodded. "How old were you when you...y'know, stop aging?"

"I had just turned twenty-one."

"Okay...so how did you gain your immortality?" She was clearly hesitant about asking this question. Her mother did mention that Chase was old, but she never did say how old he was, or how he managed to live for so long. All she told Aisha was to stay away from him because he was evil. _'But I ignored her because I never sensed any evil from him. He felt like a normal person to me; a neutral party with neither evil nor exceptionally good vibes. . . I hope my mother was wrong. . .'_

Chase thought for a moment before answering. If he told her the truth, she would surely do everything in her power to stay away from him and then all of this time would have been wasted. However, he did not want to lie to her, she needed to know the truth for even the slightest chance that she would remember anything. "I drank a soup, the Lao Mang Long soup to be exact, that gave me my immortality."

That name...It sounded so familiar...She had heard of that soup before. . .

"So what about Kiara? What's her story? How did you keep her immortal?"

"A good..._friend_of mine 'adopted' her when she realized that Kiara had no family. I honestly don't know anything about her past from before she was found, she never mentioned any of it to me. So as a favor to my 'friend', I took care of Kiara in her absence...She is an extremely bright little girl; I taught her everything she knows. And she reminds me so much of my 'friend'," Chase smiled a little as he reflected on his adopted daughter. "I luckily found an alternative route to immortality for her by putting her into a magically induced sleep every few decades for a couple of centuries to preserve her body. She ends up missing alot of the world's progression, but I think it is worth it. You do know of the magically part of this world, right?"

Aisha nodded, "Well, why did you keep her at such a young age?"

"She wanted to be the same in almost every way for the day that we find her adoptive mother, the 'friend' that I mentioned earlier."

"That's so sweet of her. So what happened to your friend?"

"We are not very sure, we just know that she was taken from us during an attack on her village." Chase's eyes were firmly set on Aisha's lavender ones; he wanted her to remember so badly.

"An attack on her village?" Aisha repeated somewhat absently.

"Yes, she was from India."

"I lived in India for a while. . ." she responded even more absently than before. Her mind was starting to search through her memories; the last time she was in India, right before her first death, began while she was home.

"Yes, I know. She was taken from her father's home by a group of men who were looking for me."

Aisha gasped, she remembered that day. It was the day after her birthday and she had come from being...somewhere that she couldn't remember..._'Where was I before I came home. . .?'_ When she returned to her village, she found it in ruins. It had rained the night before but everything was destroyed. Homes were smoldering, most were collapsing, everything was broken and in the streets...and it was completely empty of its citizens. When she arrived at her house, she was ambushed by a group of burly men. She tried to fight them off, she was trained to handle these types of situations, but she failed. Her life was never the same after that day.

"Wh-what day was that?" Aisha's voice shook from her chilling memory.

"August 21st. I remember because we celebrated her birthday the night before."

"My...my birthday is August 20th..." She was now officially getting worried._ 'And the attack on my village was the day after. . . What the hell is with all of these coincidences? This is really creepy!'_

"Yes, I know. I know alot about you. I knew your father, Rammed Katar. I even met your fiance once; his name was Akino Itchinura, right?"

Aisha's body became tense and her eyes went wide.

"I even know that you are a witch and that you have dragon blood running through you." Chase took her hand in his and pushed up the sleeve of her sweater with his free hand and then lightly ran his fingers along the length of her arm. "I also know about the marks on your body. The cravings. Deja. The ruby on your forehead." He reached his hand out to touch her forehead.

"_Stop!_" Aisha shouted and pushed him away from her. "Why...why do you know so much about me? Who the hell are you?" She was scared to death. No one was supposed to know about her past. Only her mother, her family, and Erica knew _everything_; and Ilario was kept on a need-to-know basis. The last person who knew that much about her was out to kill her, and she almost didn't get away that time.

"I am Chase Young, and I know all of this because we met all those years ago. We lived together for a while."

Aisha stood up moved away from him towards the glass doors that led to the balcony. ". . . No. . .No. . ." She hid her face with her hands and shook her head repeatedly.

"Yes. You are the friend I was talking about. You were kidnapped and you disappeared. We couldn't find you. . .until now." Chase went up to her and slowly wrapped his arms around her back. He rested his head against hers and closed his eyes as she began to cry. "Aisha Juliana Katar," he whispered over her sobs, "it is our destiny to be together."

Aisha's sobs abruptly subsided at the end of his sentence. The tingling sensation from his touch calmed her down.

They stood together in silence for a few more moments before Chase said, "Come with me back to China."

She picked her head up and looked at him with red, puffy eyes. "What?"

"I want you to come with me when Kiara and I return to China. It is where you belong."

Aisha had no idea how to respond to his request; she wasn't expecting anything as abrupt as Chase asking her to flee the country with him. "But-What?-I-I'm sorry...but I can't." She stepped away from him and grabbed her purse.

"Aisha..."

"I'm so sorry...But I just-I can't." And with that she was out of the door leaving Chase dumbfounded in his living room.

_'I need to get out of here. If he can use magic like he said, then I really need to stay away from him. Oh my God, oh my God. Why is this happening to me?' _Aisha thought as she ran down flight after flight of steps in her apartment's stairwell. Once she made it to the ground level, she sprinted to the parking garage and nearly shouted at the attendants present.

"Hi! I need to get into my car very quickly...Like _now_." A couple of the workers nodded before they turned to get her car.

Within the next ten minutes, Aisha was in her black, 3 series BMW heading out of the city. _'God dammit! I don't have any frickin' directions!...I'll just call her when I get out of New York...'_

She was scared and frustrated; how could she have been so stupid as to not get directions to her mother's house before she left?

_'I panicked. I can never think straight when I panic...I need to calm down,'_ she reached her hand out to turn on her radio, but it shook too much for her to use it. _'Oh good God. . .Maybe when I get to Connecticut...I can stop at a gas station or something and figure out how the hell I'm getting to Mamma's.'_

About half an hour later when she finally got off the island of Manhattan, the sky became dark and rain literally poured from above.

"Is this some type of cruel joke?" Aisha shouted and threw her hands up in the air. "I can't see _anything_ in this torrential downpour! _Ughh!_"

And though she was still driving, she slammed her head onto the top of the steering wheel groaning _'Fuck my life...'_ But after a few seconds, she quickly lifted her head back up when she felt a sharp pain shoot through her forehead. Her eyes went straight to the grayness that she thought was the road ahead of her and she placed her right hand over the red jewel that had been stuck on her forehead for what felt like her entire life.

"Hmm, no one's behind me, I wonder if I can get over to the right," Aisha thought out loud through her blinding pain as she checked her rear-view mirror. She glanced at her right side view mirror and saw nothing, and then looked up to check her rear-view mirror again but her heart almost skipped a beat when she saw her reflection. The ruby behind her bangs violently glowed a bright red color and a red liquid slowly ran down her nose from the jewel.

The next thing she saw was in her direct line of vision. It was a tree. . .

**- - -ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD- - -**

_"Happy birthday dear Raimundo! Happy birthday tooooo yooouuu!"_ A group of youths sang all too loudly and off key as they walked into a small bedroom carrying a cake.

The young man on the floor named Raimundo nearly leapt out of his bed roll as their 'singing' jerked him from his sleep.

"Happy birthday best bud!" The tall blond male of the group said with a heavy Texan accent.

"Happy birthday sweetie!" A dark haired, blue-eyed Asian teenaged girl shouted as she hugged Raimundo.

"Yes Raimundo! Raise and sparkle! It is the day that we celebrate your birth!" A slightly shorter boy and most yellow of the group exclaimed.

"Thanks Clay, Kimi, and Omi. But was the singing _really_necessary?" Rai laughed and his friends joined him.

About two years have passed since Raimundo advanced to the Shoku Warrior level. Even though Clay, Kimiko, and Omi were also now considered as Shoku Warriors, they still looked up to Raimundo as their leader. Each monk had grown and matured since their last major battle with the Heylin side. Even Omi grew a few inches taller, his body finally catching up to his huge head which, at certain angles, seemed to look as thought it had actually shrunk.

"Well the festivities will have to wait, young monks," an older man said as he stepped into the doorway of the room. "A new Shen Gong Wu has revealed itself. It is called the Bindi of Bashirya."

"The Bindi of Bashirya?" A small, green dragon of Asian folklore asked as he slithered onto Raimundo's shoulders. "That Wu disappeared before we could even hide it."

"Dojo, what do you mean 'disappeared'?" The girl Kimiko asked.

"I mean like it was just sitting there nice and pretty on the table, I turn around to get something and when I look back, its gone!"

"Well we must not let this powerful Wu disappear again, young warriors. Now go retrieve it," Master Fung said; and again everyone groaned in annoyance.

"Can I at least get a slice of my birthday cake before we go?" Raimundo asked as his friends grimly began to file out of his room.

"No!" the wizened elder snapped and snatched the cake from the young man's hands.

"Geez, some 19th birthday," Rai grumbled with a pout.

**- - -SOME TIME LATER- - - **

"It looks like we're heading back to New York for this one guys," an enlarged Dojo announced as he was soaring through the air. "And the weather man calls for rain!"

Clay, Kimiko, Raimundo, and Omi were gripping onto Dojo's back, desperately trying to hold on to his slippery scales.

"No shit Sherlock," Rai muttered; he was mad about having to go Wu hunting on his birthday, and even more pissed that they were caught in a hurricane.

"Dojo! How much further? We're beyond drenched back here!" Kimiko shouted above the roaring winds of the storm.

"Well I haven't been around this one much, so all I really feel is a pulling sensation! Its like me and the this Wu are two magnets attracted to each other!" Dojo explained and for a few more minutes, they flew around in the dark gray clouds.

"Dojo! This is like trying to find a safety pin in a pile of straw!" Omi yelled.

"A what in a _what?_"

"I reckon he means a needle in a hay stack," Clay deciphered.

"What-_ever_! We should just land and wait for the storm to blow over!"

"Okay, everybody hold on!" The dragon shouted and began a swift descent towards the ground.

"Dojo! What is that? Land over there!" Kimiko said; they were now close enough to the ground to see the flooded, empty highway.

"I don't know, but it looks like a car wreck." Clay surmised.

As they got closer, the group could see that a black sedan had crashed head on into a tree on the side of the high way.

"Oh my gosh!" Kimiko gasped as they, one by one, hopped of Dojo's back and ran towards the car.

"Omi, is there anything you can do about this rain? Y'know, since your element is water and all?" Raimundo asked.

"I can try to deflect it from around us!" Omi replied in a shout. Now their voices had to compete against the totaled car's blaring alarm and horn.

"You could've kept us dry the entire trip here?" Rai asked with a hint of frustration.

"Well I was trying not to fall off of Dojo! You could have done the same thing, oh Great Dragon of Wind!"

"Would you two shut up!" Kimiko shouted right before Rai was about to react to Omi's claim. "There's someone in the car! We need to get her out!"

"Just keep the rain off us!" Rai said to Omi before going to the car with Clay.

Kimiko pulled on her black biker gloves that she always had with her before she kicked in the back driver's side window, and then climbed over the shards of broken glass in the backseat to the driver. "Um, she's unconscious but I don't know if she'll stay alive for much longer. Her air bag didn't inflate."

"Guys! Guys!" Dojo called as he hopped onto Clay's shoulders. "The pull is really strong over here! I think the Wu might be somewhere in the car!"

"We'll worry about that once we get this lady out of the car," Rai replied.

Kimiko placed both of her hands on the front and back of the woman's neck, carefully lifted her face off the steering wheel and set her back against the seat. She noticed several streams of blood running down the woman's face and moved her bark bangs out of the way to find the source.

"Is this it?" The dragon of fire asked when she saw a glowing red jewel fixated on the woman's forehead.

"Woah!" Dojo exclaimed as his body stretched head first towards the jewel. Clay quickly caught the dragon before he flew into the unconscious woman's forehead. "That's it! That's the Bindi of Bashirya!"

Kimiko placed her thin fingers on the Wu and it stopped glowing. "We'll worry about that later! We have to get her to a hospital first! Rai and Clay, the door is jammed, you'll have to pull it off!"

Even though the horn stopped blaring, the car alarm was still going at full blast. as Clay and Raimundo yanked the car door off its hinges.

"Okay, you guys have to be careful as you get her out the car; her neck or back might be injured," Kimiko said and undid the seatbelt.

"Wait!" Clay called right before they began to pull the woman out of the car. "Even if we did manage to keep the lady stable on Dojo's back, we can't exactly ride to a hospital atop a dragon!"

"Dammit, Clay's right! we gotta take her back to the temple!"Rai decided.

"But then there's the issue of Dojo!" The green reptile gave Kimiko an angry look. "I mean,you're not the issue Dojo! It's just that the ride back will be too bumpy if she has a neck or back injury!"

"Guys!" Omi shouted from his spot on top of the car where he had been keeping the rain off his friends. "We have company!"

"Ahh shit!" Raimundo cursed. "I have the Golden Tiger Claws; will that work?"

"That might be too risky since she's unconscious!" Kimiko shook her head. "And all I have is the Star of Hanabi!"

"I ain't got anything useful either!" Clay added.

Raimundo thought for a few seconds before calling up to Omi, "Omi! What Wu do you have?"

"Just the Shimo Staff! Why?"

"Nevermind! Make sure that our 'company' doesn't get too close!"

"Now what are we gonna do?" Kimiko asked.

"I can use the Golden Tiger Claws to get to the Sheng Gon Wu vault and grab the Silver Manta Ray and then come back," Raimundo offered.

"Good thinking Rai! Now hurry up!" Kimiko responded. Rai nodded before slicing the air with the Wu and jumping into the portal that opened. "Clay, can you help out Omi while I try to patch up her cuts?"

"Clay nodded and went up to join Omi. They could clearly hear the familiar cackle of their archenemies.

"Jack Spicer!" Omi hissed.

"Of course that low down snake would crawl outta his hole! I was kinda hoping that the rain would keep him away!" Clay commented.

"You Xiaolin Losers normally would've been right about that! But not today! 'Cause I'm wearing my newest invention: The Waterproof Wetsuit! Complete with a built in oxygen tank and jet pack!" Their enemy shouted triumphantly.

The pale redhead was clad in an all black diving suit, helmet, and boots. In all reality, he looked kinda ridiculous.

"Guys, let's go!" Raimundo called when he suddenly reappeared on the scene through a portal. "Silver Manta Ray!" He called and the artifact in his hand drew into a huge vehicle that resembled a gigantic mechanical sting ray that could comfortably seat ten people.

Clay jumped off the car and helped Kimiko and Raimundo pull the unknown woman into the sting ray.

"Okay Omi! We're good to go!" Kimkio called and Omi leapt off the car to join the other monks.

"Wait, what?" a dumbfounded Jack Spicer shouted at his departing enemies. "Get back here you Xiaolin Losers!"

**- - -A FEW HOURS LATER: CHINA- - -**

A heavily disappointed Jack Spicer landed at the opening of his favorite evil role model's headquarters. He let out a long sigh as he pushed in a stone and was granted entrance into the lair. The opulent interior design of the citadel did not even phase him as he dragged himself to the room he was given earlier this year.

"What's wrong with you?" A tanned, green-eyed woman asked from her seat at one of the many pools. She used her fingers to comb through her thick red hair.

"Same old, same old," Jack sighed and slipped his hands into his jeans pockets. He had changed out of his wetsuit earlier and was now in a black and red stripped T-shirt and black skinny jeans.

Overall, the last couple of years had been good to Jack; he grew a few inches taller, and puberty had finally kicked in, relieving him of his high pitched voice; even though he still had that awful laugh. For the last year he had been living his dream of being the apprentice of his favorite person in the universe. During his apprenticeship, Jack was finally gaining some martial arts skills. He wasn't anywhere near the level of the Xiaolin monks, but if he had to,he could hold his own for all of 5 minutes. "I lost another Wu to the monks. By the time I got there, they were ready to leave."

"Which Wu was it?" A smooth voice asked from nowhere.

Jack flinched from the newcomer's voice but relaxed when his mentor stepped from the shadows of the room. "Are-are you wearing a _suit_?"

His mentor glared at the boy with his cold, golden eyes as he loosened his tie, "Answer the question Spicer."

"The-the Wu something called the Bindi of Bashirya," Jack stammered, his idol scared him so much when he was angry.

"The Bindi of Bashirya?" The redhead woman asked. "But it was lost centuries ago."

Jack shrugged, "Well it was activated in some car wreck in New York. I think the driver might've had it. They took her with them."

"Wuya, what do you know of this Shen Gong Wu?" Jack's mentor asked of the tan woman named Wuya.

She shrugged before starting, "Well since it's a bindi, it's just a small ruby in a tear drop cut. It's too small to be worn as a pendant on a necklace, so it attaches to the users forehead, right on their 'Third Eye'. I never really knew what it did, it disappeared before Dashi even had a chance to hide it and it was supposedly extremely powerful. . . Now that I think about it. . . Chase, remember that girl? What was her name?...China? No, Aisha? Yeah, Aisha - -AHH!"

Wuya didn't have a chance to finish her sentence. Once the name 'Aisha' escaped from her lips, Chase had her pinned to a nearby wall with his hand tightly gripping her neck.

"Do you not value your life?" Chase hissed in Wuya's ear. "Do you not remember our agreement? The one to which you agreed to never, _EVER_ mention that name again?"

Wuya shook her head slightly in response and Chase promptly released her and turned to leave her gasping for air on the floor.

"I was...I was just going to suggest that...that _she_might've had the Shen Gong Wu...the entire time," Wuya managed as she caught her breath.

Chase paused as he thought over Wuya's idea. "That is an interesting thought Wuya. I guess we will never know, now will we?" And with that Chase left Jack and Wuya to go find Aisha.

* * *

**MMM late again i know, but it was worth it! Sooo chapter tenis gonna be a real challenge, especially with school startingup soon. Oh well. Until next time!**

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	10. Chapter 10

**YEAAA! I'm back before my one month deadline! WOOOHH oh and August was the one year anniversary since I started this stroy. Hopefully I wont spend 3 years on this like I did with the last one XD**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

**The Past is Back**

**Chapter 10**

"How's she doin' Kim?" Clay asked Kimiko as he walked into the medical building of the Temple complex. They were all required to take emergency medical classes, but Kimiko was the only one of her friends to do exceptionally well and was unanimously appointed as the team medic.

"I think she'll be okay. Now we just have to wait 'til she wakes up," Kimiko sighed as she up her supplies. "From what I can tell so far, she only had a few cuts on her head. Did anyone happen to grab her pocketbook from her car?"

"Yeah I think Dojo might it." Clay turned towards the door and called out. "Dojo!"

"Really, Clay? Did you _really_ have to shout?" Kimiko shouted. "We have an unconsious woman lying here!" She had been having anger issues again for the past few months.

The features on the lady's face twitched a little as she groaned, "Oww."

Kimiko and Clay paused and looked at her as she woke up.

"My _head,_" she muttered and placed her hands on her head as she started to roll to her side.

"Woah, woah! Try to lie still for a while." Kimiko said as she carefully turned the woman on her back again. "We don't know if you hurt your back or neck yet."

"Don't worry about my neck or back or whatever, just give me some ibuprofen for my head please!" The woman begged as she sat up on her cot despite Kimiko's efforts to keep her down.

The harajuku fangirl gave up and went through a nearby medicine cabinet looking for painkillers. "How many do you want?"

"Oh my God this is awful! Just give me all of them!" Kimiko quickly went back over to her with a bottle and poured all of its pills into the woman's hand.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Kimiko asked as the woman stuffed the pills in her mouth. She nodded in response while trying to swallow the painkillers.

"Did someone call me?" Dojo slithered into the room. The woman paused when she saw the little dragon.

"Dojo!" She exclaimed as she went over and scooped him up into her arms and hugged him. "Oh my gosh! I can't believe you're still alive! It's been forever since the last time I saw you!"

"...Can't...breathe!" Dojo gasped.

"Oh! Sorry! I'm so sorry!" The woman apologized as she released him.

There were few seconds of silence as they waited for Dojo to catch his breath. "...Okay, I'm good. Now, who are you?"

"Dojo, it's me, Aisha Katar! I'm Rammed Katar's daughter. Well I really can't expect you to remember me, I was like ten when we met."

"Ra-rammed Katar? But he died centuries ago...How are you-?"

"Still alive? Well...it's a complicated story."

"Yeah, I'm not very good with complicated," the little dragon replied.

"Hold on sec'," Clay interuppted. "What's goin' on here?"

"Oh right, introductions. Um, Clay, Kimiko, this is Aisha Katar, an old friend of the Temple. Aisha, this is Clay, the Dragon of Earth and Kimiko the Dragon of Fire of the Xiaolin Temple." Dojo explained.

"Nice to meet you," Aisha greeted and the three exchanged bows to each other. "I didn't think Xiaolin monks were still needed in this day and age."

"It's like the Heylin side has gotten stronger this time around," Dojo sighed. "This is Temple version 4.0 we're working with now."

"Ohh so this is the new temple?" Aisha wondered as she looked around the simple dojo like building they were now in.

"Sure, if you consider 200 years _new_. But this is only the medical building."

"Oh okay. But 200 years is new by _our _standards, Dojo."

"If you don't mind me asking, exactly how old are you?" Kimiko asked Aisha.

"Um, well in this life I'm twenty-one. But really I'm about fifteen hundred years old."

Kimiko and Clay were in complete and utter shock.

"What is this? Why is everyone immortal?" Kimiko shouted.

Aisha chuckled, "Who's everyone?"

"You'll see when we go to tell Master Fung that you're awake. Come on," Dojo said and led them out of the medical building.

The blaring sun was almost too much for Aisha, before passing out all she remembered seeing was gray nothing-ness right before the tree. _'Wait, did I die again?' _Aisha wondered while Clay started giving a list of their immortal accquaintances.

"Well there's you, Dojo, Master Monk-"

"I'm sorry, um, what year is it?"

"It's 2011," Kimiko replied. "Why?"

Aisha mentally sighed in relief. "No reason. Now what were you saying Clay?"

"I was just giving you a list of everyone we know that's been hangin' around for over a thousand years. There's you, Dojo, Master Monk-"

"Guan!" Aisha gasped and stopped walking. A man that had been walking towards them stopped in his tracks too when he saw Aisha.

"You know Master Monk Guan too?" Kimiko inquired.

"Aisha!" The man in orange robes shouted as he ran towards her and lifted her off her feet in an embrace.

She returned the hug and when he set her back on her feet, they just smiled at each other for a few moments.

"How are you still alive?" They asked in unison and then laughed.

"You're still hairy I see," Aisha grinned and ran a hand along his shaven head.

"And you're still as ugly as ever," Guan joked back.

"Shut up! Just 'cause I'm old doesn't mean you have to be so nice!" Aisha said as she playful shoved him away from her.

"I'm confused," Clay stated and Kimiko nodded her head in agreement. "Guan is the darn farthest thing from hairy."

"And Aisha is insanely gorgeous," Kimiko added.

Dojo slithered onto Clay's shoulders and explained, "Their families were close when they were younger so they became friends. It's a running inside joke they have, they think it's funny when they talk to each other in opposites. . . .Weirdos."

"Come, there is so much I need to tell you," Guan said taking Aisha's hand. Clay, Kimiko, and Dojo joined them.

"We need to go see Master Fung first," the little dragon reminded them and the group made their way towards a building on the other side of the Temple grounds. "We're supposed to meet him in the Meditation Room."

The Mediation Room had the same dojo styling as the Medical building except it was bigger and had four red pillars on each side that strecthed from the cieling to the floor. Directly below the six sunlights were shallow plant boxes housing groups of bamboo stalks.

A balding man was waiting for them on the other side of the room, opposite the entrance.

"Oh you're awake. How are you feeling?" The blue-eyed man asked. Despite the lack of hair on his head, he had a fully grown brown mustache.

"I'm feeling pretty alright," Aisha replied. "You must be Master Fung?"

"Yes. And you are?" The elderly man smiled.

"I'm Aisha Katar." Master Fung's smile fell a little when she said her name. "Yeah, I know there's some type of bad connotation to my name, but I just don't know what it is."

The Xiaolin Master offered her and the others to sit and they did so on the floor. "I assume you have a few questions. So before I start explaining a few things, you can ask yours first."

"Thank you. Exactly where am I?" Aisha asked.

"This is the Xiaolin Temple in China."

"China?" Aisha repeated. "Okay, um so how did I get here?"

"We were Shen Gong Wu hunting and we found your car," Kimiko explained. "You crashed into a tree before we showed up."

"Really? Damn, that was my favorite car too..." The woman mused. "So what about this Shen Gong Wu thing? What is it?"

"Do you remember Dashi?" Guan asked.

Aisha nodded. "I mean, I've only really seen him a couple of times, but that's when we were younger."

"Well before he died, he created mystical objects that have great power. They were all hidden around the world and had been activating over the course of the last few years."

"The one we were looking for is on your forehead," Kimiko added.

"It's on my forehead?" Aisha asked as she reached her hand up to her forehead and touched the ruby that was there. "My bindi?"

"It's called the Bindi of Bashirya," Clay informed her. "We don' quite know what it does yet. Dojo says it diappeared before he could even hide it."

"Well this was a gift from Dashi when we were kids. He didn't tell me that it was anything special."

"That liar! He let me think it just went missing when he gave it to you all along?" Dojo gasped.

"How old was Dashi when he started making Wu?" Kimiko asked, ignoring Dojo's outburst.

"It was a lifelong process. Dashi had first gotten the idea when he saw my family's spear collection and wondered if he could give objects powers to aid warriors in battle," Guan explianed. "Since he lived at the Temple for his enitre life, I think he started when he was about nine or ten years old. The Bindi must have been one of his earlier creations."

"Do you have any idea what it does?" Master Fung asked. Everyone else shook their heads.

"I've had this thing my entire life and all it does is glow and give me headaches," Aisha replied with slight disdain.

"Well for the time being, until we know what your Wu does, would you object to staying with us for a while? For protection purposes," Master Fung requested.

"I'm sorry, but yeah, I would. I really need to get back to my mother in Massachusetts. And what could I possibly need protection from?"

"You will need protection from the evil forces that will try to take the Shen Gong Wu from you," Guan replied.

"What evil forces?" Aisha asked some what uneasily. _'People are still after me? No one's supposed to know that I'm alive. . .Maybe I shouldn't have used my real name in this life. . .'_

"Our enemies on the Heylin side like Jack Specer, the Heylin witch Wuya, and Chase Young," Kimiko explained to her.

"Chase Young? Ha ha! That's weird I know a Chase Young. He lives two floors above me back in my New York apartment building," Aisha laughed. "There's no way that you could mean _him_. I mean, so yeah earlier today he told me that he was immortal; but, he's so nice. There's no way that he could be evil."

"Chase Young, _nice_?" Clay asked in disbelief.

"Wait, you saw Chase earlier today?" Guan asked her.

"Mhmm, I was watching his adopted daughter the night before."

"Chase Young has a daughter?" The others asked her. They were all confused.

"_Adopted_ and yeah. She's so adorable!"

"Aisha, don't you remember the prophecy? Don't you remember living with him all those years ago?"

"You _lived_ with _Chase_?" Kimiko and Clay asked in unison. What the hell was going on?

"Y'know, that's weird. Chase mentioned something about wanting me to come live with him. Supposedly we're 'destined to be together'. Well that scared the shit outta me so I bolted and tried to get to my mother's...But that's when I crashed...Weird huh?" Aisha clearly had no idea of the gravity of the situation at hand. Kimiko began to wonder if the twelve painkillers she took were starting to mess with her head.

"Did anyone see you bring Aisha here?" Master Fung asked Kimiko and Clay.

"Well Jack showed up right before we took her out of her car. And he was still there when we left in the Silver Manta Ray," Kimiko answered.

"This is bad. Go get Omi and Raimundo and tell them to be ready. Chase Young could show up any moment." The two warriors nodded and right when the turned to leave, a body flew in through the open door way and skidded to a halt on the floor.

"Omi!" Kimiko shouted and went over to the yellow young man on the floor.

"Are you alright there lil' bud?" Clay asked.

"Chase...Young," Omi groaned as he tried to sit up. "He's here...He said that we have something that belongs to him."

"What? Chase is _here_?" Aisha asked.

"Aisha, Chase is a Heylin warlord. Don't you remember?" Guan begged of her.

"What the fuck? A warlord? I met Chase a few weeks ago. He owns the company that I do accounting for."

Guan furrowed his brow. "Do you remember where you were when you celebrated your nineteenth birthday fifteen hundred years ago?"

Aisha was silent for a few moments. This is the second time today she had to think about that day. "No. All I remember is coming home the day after to find my village destroyed."

"Fung, she's suffering from some type of amnesia. I doubt she remembers any of the time she spent with Chase before this year," Guan surmised.

"And I reckon that's a bad thing, right?" Clay asked.

"It is beyond bad at this point. Omi, where is Raimundo?" Master Fung asked.

"Outside with Chase," Omi winced as Kimiko tended to his cuts.

"Guan! I know that you are here! Come out, come out where ever you are!" They heard Chase shout from outside. A few seconds later Raimundo came crashing into the Mediation Room through the ceiling.

"At this rate we'll have to upgrade to a fifth Temple," Dojo said as he hid in Clay's hat. The cowboy and Kimiko went over to Raimundo and helped him sit up.

"What the hell is he after? We haven't seen him in months!" Rai asked angrily.

"...Me," Aisha replied. "Mamma was right, I should've stayed away from him."

"Malesifant knew that Chase found you?" Guan asked.

"Yeah. Why? Does my mother know something about Chase I don't? I knew it! She's always so damn secretive!"

A thunderous boom resounded from outside and Clay went to a nearby window to see what happened.

"The West Tower is down," the Texan announced.

"He's tearing down buildings?" Aisha exclaimed.

"Chase has had a serious problem with his temper since he joined the Heylin side," Master Monk Guan explained.

"Master Fung," Raimundo started, "what is your estimate on the amount of years of darkness the world will fall into if we hand...I'm sorry, I didn't get your name."

"Aisha," she replied.

"If we hand Aisha over to Chase?" Rai continued.

"Really Rai? Could you be anymore heartless?" Kimiko scolded.

"Hey, I'm just asking a question!"

"As an answer to your question Raimundo, I honestly do not know," Master Fung replied. "If things go well between Chase and Aisha, then we should expect a mostly peaceful world for as long as Aisha remains alive."

"Oh, well in that case, I vote hand Aisha over to Chase," Raimundo said. "You're immortal right? Seeing as you know Guan."

"I might be 1500 years old, but I'm not immortal," Aisha replied. "And if his temper causes him to tear down buildings, I don't know if I could keep him in check for very long..."

"Well what will happen if you can't?" Kimiko asked.

"An eternity of darkness," Guan answered ominously.

"...Yeah...No pressure..." Aisha muttered sarcastically.

"Hmm, well I'm gonna put all my eggs in one basket and vote that we hand Aisha over," Rai stated.

"Wait? When did we start talking about eggs?" Omi asked with confusion scribbled all over his face. The whole room fell silent.

"Really, Omi! Are you serious?" Rai questioned. Another boom sounded and the Meditation Room shook a little.

"The Medical Building just exploded," Clay noted.

"Okay, whatever, it if stops him from destroying your home, I'll go." Aisha decided and stood up.

"Aisha, what are you doing?" Guan asked.

"Turning myself in so he'll leave you guys alone. How bad could staying with him be?" Everyone remained silent as they tried to think of a viable response.

"He just threw two people through a building," Guan said.

"And he saved my life by killing two people for me a couple of nights ago. Your point?" Aisha replied a bit too casually.

"Guan, let her go," Master Fung said. "They _are_ destined to be together. It is written; by your own family, no less."

"Thank you everyone for everything. I'll see if I can find a way to visit you guys some time. See you later!" Aisha said before stepping outside into the courtyard.

"I know..." Guan said with a hint of sadness. "But he does not even deserve her."

"He may not, but she just might keep him in line if they fulfill their destiny," Master Fung said explained with calm wiseness.

"...How is it that you manage to sound as though you know more than me when I am older than you by a milenia and a half?" Guan asked with a small smile.

"That, I do not know," the Xiaolin mentor smiled back and they went to help the two fallen monks.

**- - -OUTSIDE- - -**

"Hi Chase," Aisha greeted her latest object of affection with slight uneasiness. She had just been told that the man she was falling for was _evil_. _'So what if his proposal to drop everything and flee to China with him scared me a bit? Honestly, I've dealt with worse.'_

"Aisha," Chase sighed with a genuine smile. Spicer had actually been useful for once in his life. When Aisha ran out of his apartment, he had a mini-flashback to the day that she disappeared. His first thought was that he might not ever see her again, but once he snapped out of that mindset, he went back to his lair to come up with a way to find her. It would have been much easier in this digitalized world where it was possible to find almost anyone on the Earth. But Jack had saved him the trouble when he told them of the car crash the monks had come across and that they took the driver with them. Even Wuya had a spark of intellectual usefullness when she suggested that Aisha probably had a Shen Gong Wu attached to her.

"Um, I'm sorry for bolting on you like that earlier," Aisha said when she reached where he was standing. "You just caught me off guard and-and I got scared 'cause I thought you were gona try to kill me or something and I-I panic-"

"Shh," Chase hushed and placed a finger on her lips. "Know this: I would never, _ever_ hurt you. Okay?" Aisha nodded lazily; his softened voice and golden gaze had her fall into a slight daze right after he hushed her. "Now have you considered my offer?"

Aisha nodded her head again. "Did I really have any other option? Especially once it involved you knocking down a Temple?"

"Not really," Chase replied. "I would have scoured the Earth _again_ to find you."

"So what the monks told me was true?"

Chase's face fell. He believed that if she knew the truth about him, it would ruin everything. "What did the monks say about me?"

Aisha noticed the sudden cold anger of his voice. "They told me that you were a Heylin warlord." She heard her own voice shake as the words escaped her lips. It scared her to know that the man who was so nice to her was also so dangerous. "Is it true?"

"Aisha, I-"

_"Is it true?' _Aisha asked again.

Chase inhaled deeply before answering, "Yes." It almost shamed him to admit it to her, but he kept his eyes locked on hers and watched them fill with sadness. "Aisha, let me me explain."

The woman shook her head and stepped away from him. "No, I can't. I can't do this. I can't be around someone that could possibly kill me."

She was starting to get frantic and Chase knew what would be coming next. "Aisha calm down. I could never even think about hurting you. Your mother can vouch for me."

"My mother told me to stay away from you!"

"She _what_? When?" Chase's anger was reaching new heights. _'That mischevious woman agreed to stay out of this!'_

"The day you met her when we came back from the Bangkok restaurant. Right after you left she told me to stay away from you."

Chase calmed down a little. So she told Aisha this _before_ he pled his case to her. "If you want, I can bring your mother and she can explain everything."

"I don't want anything explained to me! I wanna go home!" She was shouting now and starting to cause a scene (as if destroying buildings didn't cause a big enough scene). Chase took hold of both of her wrists and in a blink of an eye they were gone.

* * *

**Hmmmmm soo not much on this one. I was kinda short. Scholls started again and I have a gillion and a half things to read by next week. I hope I get it done.**

**Until next time!**

**REVIEW PLEASE! (im like tinker bell, i need applause)**


	11. Chapter 11

**The Past is Back**

**Chapter 11**

"Where the hell are we?" Aisha gasped when the pair reappeared in a room far from the Xiaolin Temple. The floor and walls of the great hall were made of a turquoise blue marble that set a tranquil mood to the room. The blue midday sky could clearly been seen through the glass ceiling.

"We are home," Chase replied.

"This doesn't look like any place I've been to in New York."

"That is because we are not in New York. We are still in China, the Himalayas to be exact. And this is my palace; this is our home."

"Oh, so you've just kidnapped me?"

Chase sighed with exasperation, "Please don't think of it that way."

"Well how else am I supposed to think about this? I wanted to go home to New York and you've just taken me away from that and brought me here to your...your palace."

"Because this is where you belong."

"I belong home."

"This is your home. None of this looks familiar to you?"

Aisha warily took in her new surroundings. The indoor waterfalls and the majestic archways were all so breathtaking, but not familiar to her at all. "No, I've never seen this place before. Now take me home."

Chase sighed, he wanted her to stay with him willingly but now he would have to start using force. "Do you not remember your promise to the monks?"

A light bulb went off in Aisha's mind when she remembered that she had promised the monks that she would stay. _'Dammit...What have I gotten myself into?'_

"How long do I have to be here again?" She sighed.

"For the rest of your life of course," Chase replied matter-of-factly.

"For the...for the rest of my life," Aisha repeated slowly with wide eyes filled with fear and shock.

Chase immediately recognized the look on her face and knew what was going to come next. "Aisha... stay calm; living with me isn't as bad as it seems."

"B-but...I have a job, family, friends, a life...I'm supposed to just give it all up to live here with you? A man that I barely know?" She was starting to become frantic again and began to back away from Chase.

He grabbed her wrist to stop her and could feel her pulse pounding through her body. "Aisha, look at me."

She shook her head and snatched her arm from him, "How can I even trust you? I just found out that you're an evil warlord and you want me to just calmly agree to live with you? Are you serious?" Aisha took a few more wobbly steps away from him.

"You will just learn to trust me. Now if you would just calm down, we will figure something out." Chase was beginning to lose his patience again as Aisha shook her head in defiance to his request. "The way I see it, you really don't have any other options. We are in the middle of the Himalaya Mountains, how would you even get back home?"

This new realization sent Aisha even further into a panic, "...Oh my God...I'll never be able to get back home..."

_'Shit...'_ Chase thought, he had completely forgotten that you should ever tell a person who's having a panic attack that they're trapped.

By now, Aisha had sunken to the floor and was on her knees hyperventilating & weeping. "You're gonna kill me and I'm gonna die here and no one will ever know!"

Chase let out an exasperated sigh as he crouched down in front of her; she was becoming much too hysterical. "Listen to me," he started staring her directly in her eyes, "I told you earlier that I would never hurt you and I swear on my life that I am telling you the truth." Aisha's sobs quieted and her breathing began to slow down to a normal pace. "That's better. Now, I am willing to offer you a deal as to not seem as cruel as you may think."

Aisha nodded her head, she was much calmer now, but her hand shook rather violently as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "I'm listening."

"I will take care of all of the things you were worried about back in New York; your friends, work, and I will tell your mother where you are. Just give me two months to convince you that this is where you belong. If I cannot convince you, then I will let you go back to New York," Chase explained.

The young woman was silent for a few moments, biting her nails as she thought about the offer. "Alright, 2 months and-and that's it."

"Good, now come. I will show you to your room, you need to rest," Chase said as he helped her get up from the floor. A few unsteady, trembling steps later, she fell straight to the floor.

"Aisha? Aisha!" Chase called to her unconscious body and then checked her pulse. _'Well at least she's still alive,'_ he thought with some relief.

_**'She won't be for much longer if you just sit here! She was in a car accident earlier today. One could only guess what injuries she may have,'**_ Chase's inner beast growled.

Chase just rolled his eyes and in the next second, he disappeared from the hall with Aisha.

He reappeared in his room with Aisha still unconscious in his arms. He careful placed her on his bed and began to check her vitals as his medical team arrived. While he noted her extremely weak pulse, he realized that her body endured some physical damage. Her legs and torso were spotted with bruises of varying degrees of severity from being reddish to nearly black marks.

_**'Spicer did say that the car was a wreck. I'm rather surprised that she could even walk straight earlier,'**_ Chase's inner dragon commented after noting the damage done to his mate.

_'I did not expect this to happen. I should not have rushed things with her...'_

_**'Do not blame yourself, the goal was to get her here and you have done just that.'**_

The medical team quickly finished hooking Aisha up to the various monitoring devices before they began working on her. Chase silently stepped away from the bed and out of their way, the sound of the irregular beeping on the ECG brought him out of his thoughts.

"What's going on?" He demanded of them.

The head doctor spoke up, "She's going into cardiac arrest, Sire." An attending nurse handed him a defibrillator and then medical terms started flying through the room.

_'No, I am not going to lose her again!'_ His anger flared when he realized that Aisha was slipping through his fingers again and that, just like the first time, he was unable to hold on to her.

The medical team let out a unified sigh of relief when Aisha's heart was beating again at a normal, albeit at times irregular, pace. The head doctor stepped over to Chase and they moved out to the hall to speak.

Chase had a lot of trust in his head doctor; they had known each other for almost a thousand years after Chase's first in-palace doctor didn't work out very well. "From her heart attack and the information that her aunt gave us, I think our best course of action would be for her to have a heart transplant," the wizened doctor advised.

"A heart transplant?" Chase asked with slight disbelief.

"Well yes; if her aunt noticed her weak heart all those years ago, then the last 1500 additional years of stress and the car accident have definitely had a permanently damaging effect on her heart."

The mighty warlord remained silent for a few moments as he let this information sink in. "So exactly where am I to get a heart suitable for her...condition?"

"I am almost positive that just about any heart will do. As a magical being, her body would be able to adapt to the new heart or at least modify the heart to its preference."

"How much time do we have?"

The doctor shook his head as he replied, "I cannot be sure. The sooner, the better."

"Take care of her in my absence; I have a couple of things to take care of," Chase commanded before teleporting from his spot. His ever faithful servant bowed in compliance.

Chase reappeared on the other side of his citadel in front of a giant metal door with the words "JACK'S LAB" engraved on its center. The door automatically slid open at Chase's presence and he entered the boy genius' robotics lab. The spare room was given to Jack once he became Chase's full time apprentice for him to continue his scientific work. It was always a mess of scrap metal and robot parts scattered everywhere as well as the boy's numerous tools hanging from every inch of wall and ceiling space available. Usually some type of obnoxious death metal 'music' would be blasting throughout the extensive space, but not today.

'Well he has been locked in here whenever he gets the chance. Whatever he is working on must be very important...Oh well, he will just have to put it on hold while he runs this errand for me.' Chase mused. He found the redheaded at his work desk, hunched over an electronic object intensely concentrating on what he was doing.

"Shit!" he hissed as he threw himself against the back of his chair in defeat and shoved his goggles onto the top of his head. He sighed exasperatedly before acknowledging his mentor, "Hey Chase, what's up?"

"Quite a few things Spicer, but forget the small talk. I have a mission for you," Chase smirked.

Jack's red eyes lit up with pure joy; he would do anything for his favorite person in the world.

"I need you to find the Heart of Jong and bring it to me," the warlord continued. "Do you know where it is?"

Jack forced his rolling chair over to a metal office drawer and pulled out a folder. "According to the Shen Gon Wu scoreboard, the monks have it."

"Well that makes your job easier. I need you to fetch it for me and bring it back as soon as possible."

Jack immediately hopped up from his seat and gave Chase a military salute shouting, "Sir, yes sir."

**- - -THE XIAOLIN TEMPLE- - -**

"I hope she'll be okay," Kimiko said just as Chase and Aisha disappeared from the temple grounds.

"For the whole world's sake I hope so too," Clay added.

"Well I think that some people owe us an explanation," Raimundo said addressing Master Fung and Master Monk Guan.

The two elders glanced at each other and nodded.

"You will want to take a seat though, young monks, it is quite a long tale," Monk Guan started and the monks heeded his request and got comfortable for the story. "As you all could have guessed by now, Chase, Aisha, Dashi, Wuya and I have been around and have known each other for quite some time now. For the exception of Wuya, we all basically grew up together. I come from a family heritage of well-respected monks, as did Aisha's father, Rammed, so in turn, my father and Rammed became good friends. Along with being monks, my family also had many oracles. A many years before Aisha was born, a family member of mine had a vision that created the prophecy that would bind Chase and Aisha together forever."

"Bind them together how?" Omi asked.

"They were to be married.'The child of good and evil shall become one with the greatest warrior of all time,' or something like that. However, the prophecy was somewhat unfinished because it states that their union will either bring peace to the world or total darkness," Guan answered.

"Hold on. Aren't prophecies supposed to be accurate with this kinda thing? How did they not know how everything would turn out?" Rai asked.

"Yes well, you know how Chase's destiny was to become the greatest warrior of all time," Guan asked, everyone else nodded. "If you didn't notice, it was never said exactly how he would become the greatest warrior, just that it would happen. And it did, it's just that he happened to turn to the Heylin side."

"Alright, that makes sense. But what was that bit about the child of good and evil? Aisha didn't seem evil at all, just...normal," Clay wondered.

"That is the other part that made the prophecy a bit vague on the ending. Rammed was definitely on the side of good, however, his wife and Aisha's mother, Isabella, is something of a Heylin witch. Her family is essentially evil but they are capable of, and have done, things that are considered good. That and she is also half dragon, but that is a separate issue."

"Okay, so if I'm following you correctly, because Aisha has good and evil parents, she can be loyal to whichever side?" Kimiko asked, Guan nodded. "And because Chase has chosen the side of evil, it is likely for her to follow him when they're married?"

The Master Monk nodded again, "It's just that her parents raised her to fight for good, despite their different allegiances. Usually, whatever evil Aisha commits is because she is part dragon, for example, killing people."

"Dragons eat people?" Rai asked and the monks all looked at Dojo.

"I can't believe you guys! Have I ever tried to eat you?" Dojo said defensely.

"There was that one time when you almost ate me," Omi noted.

"I wasn't quite myself that day and you know that. But no, not all dragons eat people, just the European dragons eat flesh and despite the fact that a cow is just fine, some choose to eat people. Asian dragons, such as myself, have more of a craving for mystical objects," Dojo explained.

"So being part European dragon is like being a vampire?" Kimiko asked.

"Yes, but much messier, they tend to rip out people's jugulars or hearts," Guan replied. The younger monks were silent as they pictured Aisha ripping out people's hearts and throats. "She never did it very often, her parents raised her on animal blood so there isn't much to worry about when it comes to that...Unless she does choose to side with evil, then the earth will probably be stained red with the blood of corpses without hearts..."

'How can he say that so calmly?' Rai, Kimiko, Clay, and Omi thought at once.

Monk Guan continued, "But anyway, one day Rammed had heard from the friend of a friend of a crackpot prophet that Chase Young was to turn to the Heylin side and despite my family's request, he tried his best to keep Chase and Aisha from ever meeting each other in fear of his daughter becoming evil and bringing about the end of the world; he even arranged her to be married to someone else. But of course, prophecies always come true so along with Chase becoming Heylin, Aisha managed to find him and the two of them fell in love. And then, about a year after they met each other, she disappeared. After they argued about going to see her father, she left. But by the time Chase realized she had probably gone to her village and went to find her, he found the village destroyed and the only thing left of her was a piece of her shirt stained in her blood. I can only guess that Chase has been searching for her ever since. I was convinced that she was dead, there was no way that she could have lived this long, but Chase never gave up on her." The room was silent after Guan finished telling them as much as he knew about what happened until Kimiko blurted out, "That's so beautiful!"

"...What's so beautiful about our arch nemesis getting the key to him ruling the world?" Raimundo asked with bewilderment.

"Well when you put it like that, not much. But if you look at it from the point that despite being apart for fifteen hundred years, true love led them back to each other," Kimiko explained. Rai just rolled his eyes. "Promise me that if I ever disappear, you'll never stop looking for me!"

"I don't know Kim, 1,500 years is a long time," Rai replied.

"Raimundo. . ." Kimiko growled threateningly.

"Geez fine! I promise I'll never stop looking for you," Rai complied; Kimiko was scary when she was serious.

"So what's gon' happen now?" Clay asked.

This time, Master Fung answered, "Honestly, I do not know. Probably anything at this point especially since Aisha does not even seem to remember Chase."

"So are we just gonna sit around and wait to see what happens?" Raimundo asked.

"No young monks, we will continue to do our jobs. Starting with rebuilding the towers that Chase Young just destroyed.

The four monks groaned in exhaustion. "Some birthday," Rai mumbled under his breath as he and his teammates started cleaning up the mess that Chase left.

The monks were all so busy fixing the destruction from earlier that day that no one heard the alarm go off as Jack Spicer slipped into the Shen Gong Wu vault and grabbed the Heart of Jong plus a few extra souvenirs.

* * *

**YIIIKKKKEESSSS! This chapter took me like what? 10 months to put up? Dear Jesus, talk about writer's block. Uuuuggghhh I hope you guys don't completely hate me, I've had alot going on and this got put on the back back burner XD Clearly its gonna take another year for me to actually finish this story... Oh well! You guys won't mind too much right?**

**Oh and the plan is tohave the next chaper up before the endof the month at latest...even though I'm suffering from another block -_- Dear lord. . .**

**I also just want to thank you guys who have been reading and waiting and reviewing in my very extended absence. I love you all!**

**Until next time!**


	12. Chapter 12

**YEEeEppP I'm a few days late...surprise. And Happy 2 year Anniversary for this story! On the 10th (i think that's Wednesday) it'll mark exactly 2 years since I started this story!**

**UMmmmmmmm there was something else... oh yea,**

**::WARNING!:: This chapter contatins alot of lemony, citrusy stuff...**

* * *

**The Past is Back**

**Chapter 12**

**- - -CHASE'S PALACE- - -**

Jack returned to Chase's citadel feeling quite good about himself. The Shen Gong Wu was easy to swipe from the Xiaolin Temple this time. He didn't even question why there was so little protection of the vault that day as he strutted through the marble hallways.

"Why are you so happy?" Jack heard Wuya ask as he turned into the Throne Room. Wuya was lounging on her own chaise lounge that Chase allowed her to have placed in the Throne Room.

"_I_ just snagged some Wu from the Xiaolin losers without them even knowing it," Jack declared triumphantly.

Wuya was silent for a few moments before she let out her mocking cackle. "_You_ stole Wu from the monks undetected? You're clumsy as hell, how did you manage that?"

"I walked into the vault, took the Wu that I wanted, and then walked out," Jack said matter-of-factly.

"Just like that?" Wuya asked and Jack nodded. "Hmm, maybe I should just pop on over there and see for myself."

"You will do no such thing Wuya," Chase declared as he stepped into the room. Wuya just sighed in frustration at Chase stopping her plans; Chase still had a hold on her powers. "Did you get what I asked for Spicer?" Chase asked Jack.

"Yes Sir," Jack replied as he handed Chase the Heart of Jong from his bag of goodies. "I also picked up a few extra things on my way out. I mean, if that's okay?"

The ancient warlord took the Heart of Jong and turned to leave the room. "I do not care, just heed my rule about the Wu: Make sure that Wuya does not get her hands on them."

Jack snickered as he watched Wuya throw down her magazine in anger and storm out of the room cursing under her breath.

Once he was out of the Throne Room, Chase made his way back to his room. If his plan for the Heart of Jong didn't work, he would have no idea what to do next. He entered his bedroom with the the glowing, pulsating Shen Gong Wu and looked upon the unconscious woman in his bed.

"Leave us," he ordered of the medical team and servants who were watching over Aisha; they all bowed before filing out of the room. Chase just stood at the side of the bed with his eyes still fixed on Aisha as the sounds of her irregular heartbeat on the ECG and the strong beat of the Heart of Jong filled the room. After a few moments, Chase placed the Heart of Jong on top of Aisha's chest with his right hand and with his left, he held onto her limp right hand.

"Heart of Jong," he whispered. A moment later, the heart flashed a bright red glow and seeped into Aisha's chest. The beeps of the medical equipment reacted to the rapid changes in her heart; from the dramatic drop in her heartbeat to the sudden spike as her heart came back to life and then when it fell to a normal, even pace.

Chase let out a small sigh of relief; so far, his plan had worked and now he would just have to wait until Aisha woke up. A chair materialized behind Chase and he sat down in it, taking Aisha's right hand in both of his and watched over her.

**- - -ONE WEEK LATER- - -**

Aisha slowly opened her eyes as she woke up for the first time since she arrived at Chase's palace.

_'. . .Where am I?' she wondered as she carefully sat up in the bed. She noticed that she had tubes coming from her arms and wires from her chest that were attached to the various monitoring devices around the bed._

"What the hell?" she mumbled and snatched the IV needle out of the top of her hand and the pulled the heart monitoring wires from her chest. Because they were suddenly disconnected from their patient, the medical equipment began to scream, reading Aisha's non-existent vitals as a death.

"Gahh! What the hell?" Aisha panicked at the outburst of noise and covered her ears. A few seconds later, the door flew open as five or six people ran into the room to respond to the emergency. When they all saw that Aisha was awake, they came to an abrupt halt and feel to they're knees in obedience.

"Lady Aisha," they said in unison as they bowed.

"Umm, what?" Aisha asked in confusion.

One of the men in the group stood up, he was dressed in a white coat, like a doctor's, and answered Aisha's question, "We are the nurses and doctors assigned to watch over your health while you were unconscious, Lady Aisha."

"Why was I unconscious?" Aisha asked her doctor, slightly worried about the answer. By now, the rest of the medical team were back on their feet and turning off the medical equipment.

"We are not exactly sure. It could have been caused by stress or the car accident that you were in the day that you came here, but along with other injuries, you went into cardiac arrest."

"Yikes," Aisha sighed, she was never in good physical condition, something always went wrong with her health. "So where exactly is here?"

"We are in Chase Young's palace, in the Himalaya Mountains," the doctor replied.

"...Chase Young," Aisha repeated. She knew that name and she was starting to remember who he was. Then slowly, she began to remember _everything_.

"Is everything alright, Lady Aisha?" the doctor asked; she had fallen silent for a few long moments.

"What? Oh yeah, sorry. I'm fine," she smiled. "Thank you so much for everything doctor."

By now, the rest of the medical attendants had just finished removing the monitoring devices from the room. "Trust me Lady Aisha, it is my pleasure. Also, if there is anything that you need, Akahi here will be your lady-in-waiting." Just as the doctor mentioned her name, a tan, young woman wearing a black and white maid's uniform stepped into the room and bowed.

"Hello Akahi," Aisha said. The doctor turned to leave, but stopped when he heard Aisha call his name. "Can you please do me a favor and _not_ tell Chase that I'm awake now? I would like to surprise him later."

"Anything for you," the doctor responded as he bowed before leaving the room.

Once the doctor left the room, Aisha threw the black and white covers from her body and hopped out of the bed. She walked over to the dresser and opened on of the drawers.

_'I remember Chase saying something about me staying here, but these are all men's clothes...' _Aisha thought as she opened drawer after drawer only to find clothes that she assumed to be Chase's.

"Umm Akahi, is this Chase's room?" the young woman wondered.

"Yes Lady Aisha, it is. When you first arrived here, you were already unconscious and Master Chase brought you straight here to his room," Akahi answered.

"Ohh...well is there any way of me obtaining some clothes? I don't want to go to see Chase in this nightgown that I've had on for God knows how long."

"Its been one week."

"Wait what?" Aisha was confused.

"You were unconscious for one week," Akahi explained.

Aisha was silent for a few moments as she let it sink in. "...Ho-ly shit. . . I feel disgusting. Excuse me, I'll be in the shower for 2 hours."

"What would you like for me to bring you to wear?" Akahi asked.

"It doesn't matter, as long as its presentable," Aisha replied from the bathroom. Once she heard Akahi leave, she slipped out of her nightgown and straight into the glass steam shower.

**- - -A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER- - -**

Aisha was sitting on Chase's bed in his bath robe waiting for her clothes to arrive when she heard a knock at the door. "Akahi?"

"Yes, Lady Aisha." Aisha went over and opened the door to let her in.

"Thankfully Master Chase had most of your clothes from New York brought here. But I did not know what you wanted to wear so I threw together some outfits that you could choose from," Akahi said as she entered the room dragging a metal rack of clothes in with her.

"_Some_ clothes? That's definitely everything that was in my closet," Aisha replied with some disbelief.

"So what would you like to wear?"

"Umm, wow... I mean anything is fine. Chase won't care, right?"

"It really depends on the master's mood when he returns. Although he will be glad to see that you're awake, I suggest that you wear something nice for an added effect," Akahi advised.

"Okay... Wait, what time is it?"

Akahi checked her watch, "It is a little after 6pm and dinner will be served at 8."

"When does Chase usually get back?"

"At around 7."

"Okay," Aisha replied and began to form a plan in her head. "Thank you Akahi, I'll figure out what I'll wear. I just need you to take care of a couple of things for me."

"Yes Lady Aisha?" Akahi asked.

**- - -DINNER TIME- - -**

Chase walked into his home and sighed. It had been a long day searching for anything that would help Aisha. For the past week her condition neither worsened nor got better; she just wouldn't wake up. The lack of sleep from staying up every night with his beloved, coupled with the stress of not being able to help her was starting to get to him.

_'I should not have neglected myself in my vigilance. Maybe I will just eat, check in on Aisha, and then go sleep in a different room,' _Chase thought and loosened the tie of his suit on his way towards the dinning room.

"Yes I know, I'm running a little late tonight," Chase said to an approaching servant.

The servant bowed and then replied, "It is perfectly alright, Sire. I just wanted to inform you that dinner will be served in the conservatory tonight."

Chase paused and just stared at the servant. "What is the meaning of the change?" Chase's staff had never dared to change anything without consulting him first. What were they up to?

"We just thought that you would like to have a relaxing quiet dinner away from Sir Jack and Wuya," the servant answered. He was still bent in his bow, terrified of meeting the eyes of his master. Surprises were not allowed in Chase's palace.

The Heylin warlord thought it over for a few moments. "Alright, when you put it like that, I cannot really complain." And with that Chase vanished from the hall and reappeared in the conservatory.

Although Chase's entire home could be considered one, the conservatory was special because it was located on the fourth floor of the citadel and three of its four walls were part of a glass dome that gave a spectacular view of the mountain range and sky. The entire room had grass as its floor and there was a small waterfall to the left of the door. The atmosphere of this one room managed to create one of the calmest moods in the entire palace.

Chase entered the conservatory and immediately felt the stresses of his day leave him but stopped in his tracks when he noticed that the round table in the center of the room was set for two. He looked to the servant that stood by the table and asked, "Who will be joining me for dinner tonight?"

The servant opened his mouth to answer but a feminine voice from the door sounded instead.

"I will be." Chase turned around to see Aisha walking into the room.

"Hello Chase," she greeted with a smile.

"Aisha..." Chase breathed. He was definitely surprised, he should have realized that someone had to have been pulling the strings to put this together.

Aisha stopped about a foot away from Chase and the pair just took in eachother's presence in silence. Aisha was estatic to see him now that she remembered everything that had happened, she even remembered that she forgot about him. But she didn't want to make the first move, she wanted Chase to notice that she was back to her old self.

_'Dear Lord the years have been good to him. Seeing him now with all of my memories makes him look even better than ever,' _she noted as her eyes drank in all that was her beloved Chase Young. He had already unbuttoned the top few buttons on his shirt which he had untucked from his pants a little earlier and his tie hung around his neck completely undone ._'He wears the disheveled look very well.'_

Chase, on the other hand, was at a complete loss of what to do. She looked perfect in her simple black halter dress with her hair sitting over her shoulder in a side ponytail. Her bangs had grown out in her week long slumber, and Chase had to admit that she was even more beautiful without them. He was so relieved that she was alive and well that he wanted to scoop her up into his arms and show her how much he loved her. He stepped towards but then he stopped himself, he had no idea if Aisha had regained her memory or not.

"It's okay Chase," she said barely above a whisper as a tear rolled down her right cheek. Chase wiped away the tear with his thumb and tried to understand the meaning behind what she was saying. Although her lavender eyes were full of more tears, her lips were curled up into a smile.

"It's okay," Aisha whispered again and watched as Chase's expression changed from slight confusion to realization to absolute joy.

The smile on Chase's face was huge (and completely uncharacteristic of him) as he asked,"Aisha, do you remember-?"

"Everything?" Aisha finished for him. "Yes," she nodded and began to sob and laugh at the same time in pure happines.

In all of his centuries, Chase had never felt happiness as strongly as he felt it in that moment. It was such a rush, such a new feeling that he didn't know what to do with it so all he did was hold onto his treasured love and never let her go again.

"I am so glad that you're finally home," the warlord confessed to her.

Aisha stepped back from their embrace and looked straight into her lover's golden eyes. "Ditto," she smiled and pressed her lips against his for the kiss that they had both been waiting fifteen hundred years for.

After a few mintues of innocent making out, the two stopped to catch their breath. Chase rested his forehead against Aisha's, ignoring the discomfort caused by her ruby, and smiled at her when she opened her eyes. And then, it clicked for both of them: they had never had sex with eachother. Sure when they were together before they fooled around alot, but they never actually fucked. Suddenly their lust hit them like a freight train and they realized exactly how horny they were for eachother .

In the blink of an eye, they were at it again. Aisha's fingers became entangled in Chase's silky hair as she allowed his tongue entrance into her mouth. The second she felt it, she sucked him in even deeper and moaned when she felt his response through the pants of his suit.

Chase's hands had wandered down her bare back and slipped into her dress. Once he found the band to her thong, he gave it a quick tug upwards which forced Aisha to break their passionate kiss and moan in pleasure at the pressure her lace panties put on her most sensitive areas.

With his mouth now free, Chase moved his lips down her neck, licking, biting, and sucking any of her exposed skin. Aisha's moans grew louder when one of Chase's hands wrapped one of her legs around him and found its way up her thigh and under the skirt of her dress with his fingers rubbing her through her underwear.

Chase had to take a few steps backwards until he was leaning against the table that had been set for them. The servant that was in the room earlier was long gone; he knew that dinner would not be served that night.

"Can we skip the rest of the foreplay?" The very hard warlord asked in a husky voice just before he pressed his fingers against her crotch with more force.

"Oh fuck yes!" Aisha nearly shouted in ecstasy and the two disappeared from the conservsatory.

**- - -CHASE'S ROOM- - -**

The pair reappeard in Chase's bedroom to continue their sexual escapade.

Chase tossed Aisha onto the bed with ease and let out a low growl as she climbed on top of her. Aisha giggled at his animalistic gesture as she pulled him down for another kiss and unbuttoned his shirt. Once the buttons were undone, Chase pulled off his suit jacket and shirt and threw them on the floor.

"I've been waiting for this moment _forever,"_ he growled as he slid the skirt of her dress up onto her torso and pulled down her lace thong.

Aisah stopped squirming beneath him. _'Wait...'_ she thought. There was something that she was to wait on or for but she was so sexually stimulated that she couldn't recall what it was. _Wait...? Wait. . . Wait!'_

"Gahh! Chase, wait!" She suddenly remembered and pushed herself from under Chase.

"What happened? What's wrong?" Chase asked in confusion; everything seemed to be going well.

"No, nothing's wrong. Its just, maybe we could wait a bit before jumping into each other's pants," his mate answered with some uneasiness as she put her underwear back on and fixed her dress.

Chase was bafffled, "Wait? Wait for what?"

"I don't know, maybe a special moment or something...?"

Sexual frustation was too weak of a term to describe what Chase was feeling at the moment. ". . . I have a boner almost the length of my forearm and after not being able to even kiss you in fifteen hundred years, you ask me to _wait_ for a 'special moment'? Is this moment not special enough for you? Don't you think I've waited long enough?"

Aisha felt awful, he did have a point. But she just didn't feel right to consummate their relationship in the state she was in at the moment. "Well I can do something about the boner, I didn't say we couldn't fool around. I just want it to be even more special than this moment."

". . .I really cannot think of a more special moment."

"Don't worry, you will eventually," Aisha smirked as she moved back towards the love of her life and kissed him. "I'm really, really, _really_ sorry, babe. You understand don't you?"

"Can I just pretend that I do?" Chase sighed.

She smiled and shrugged. "That's good enough for me. Now lay back," she replied as she started to unfasten his pants.

Intense waves of pleasure were sent throughout Chase's entire body the instant Aisha's lips made contact with his throbbing manhood. The skills she picked up over the years made him lose control over himself and he came with an inhuman roar. The roar scared the shit out of Aisha and some of what she was supposed to swallow spilled out of her mouth.

"Shit..." Chase breathed as he caught his breath. "Are you alright?" he asked as Aisha moved to lay next to him.

"Of course," she laughed and pressed her lips against his once more.

"You know I've always loved you, right?" he smiled as he gazed into her eyes.

Aisha nodded. "I don't think that I've ever thought that you didn't."

* * *

**Sooo that was really interesting. I apologize for the lemon,lime, fruity salad mess I threw at you guys although it kinda sucked. But I did warn you.**

**I think that was that my first lemon scene. . . Did I really not have anything in the last story?. . . Oh well whatevs.**

**HAPPY ANNIVERSARY GUYS! Until next time! **

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	13. Chapter 13

**The Past is Back**

**Chapter 13**

Chase awoke the next morning to the sight of a soft, caramel-colored face fast asleep next to him. He knew this face, it was the face of the woman he loved; the woman who made him feel complete. Waking up to have her next to him felt like a dream come true, he would have pinched himself if he didn't already know that this was his reality.

He inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of roses and lavender that she left behind in nearly every room in the citadel the day she disappeared. The mighty warlord reached out a powerful hand, a hand responsible for countless deaths, and gently stroked his lover's dark hair.

Aisha's form stirred a little at Chase's touch and a stressed look fell upon her sleeping face. A few seconds later, her eyes snapped open and a surprised gasp sounded form her lips as she sat up and moved away from Chase.

"What's wrong?" He asked, his voice full of concern.

"Um, nothing, sorry," Aisha replied after a pause. "It's just a habit. I'm not used to waking up with someone in my bed. And I just have to make sure I'm still me."

Chase sat up also, intrigued by what she meant. "Why would you need to do that?"

She moved closer to him and lowered her voice as though someone else was in the room to hear her secret. "Sometimes, I would go to bed and then wake up the next day...different. I'd be in a different place, with a different name, a different body, a different life. And what felt like I was someone else just the day before, in reality, decades or centuries would have gone by between lives."

"Well when was the last time that it happened?"

"Umm...It's been a while. I think I've been in my own body stuck at age 21 for the last century or so."

"What?"

"Yeah, after I left, I made to my 21st birthday before the first time that the body switching happened. I asked my mother about it, 21 is the age when my family's aging process nearly stops," Aisha explained. "I've been in America the whole time. We had to move _alot _to keep people from wondering why we weren't aging. Now that I think about it, I'm surprised that it took you so long to find me."

"Yeah, we'll talk about it later. But what do you mean by 'we'? Who else was with you?"

"It's weird but whenever I end up back in my own body, Mamma was always there when I would first wake up. I asked her about the body switching but she didn't know anything about it. Then there's Erica, Ilario for the last couple of centuries, my siblings-"

"Wait, you have siblings?" Chase asked.

Aisha smiled, "We have a lot of catching up to do."

A firm knock at the door interrupted their conversation and they both glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand closest to Aisha; it read 10 a.m.

"Who is it?" Aisha asked when Chase got out of the bed to get the door.

"Breakfast," he answered as a servant wheeled in a serving cart and placed it next to a small table at the far side of the room before she turned around and left.

"This is gonna be a dumb question, but how'd they know that we'd be up?" Aisha asked as she walked over to the table that she didn't notice the night before.

"I'm usually up and eating breakfast by 6am. If I'm not there by 7, it's assumed that I'm sleeping in and I'll wake up sometime between now and noon. So ever hour in that time frame, they'll stop by to just bring my breakfast."

"Oh okay," Aisha nodded with her mouth full of corn muffin.

Chase just smiled as he took his plate and glass from the cart and sat down. _'She'll never break that habit of talking with her mouth full.'_

"So when did you redecorate?" Aisha asked as she glanced around the room. This was definitely not the bedroom that she shared with Chase all those years ago. The room just had all of the basics of any bedroom; the extravagant version of the basics, but still the basics. There was a completely different bed, where the fuck did this table come from, and where's the bookshelf? The swords that hung on the wall just above the bed? But then again, she really shouldn't be surprised, it had been 15 centuries, something was bound to have change.

"I didn't really redecorate, I just moved out of our old room about a year or two after you left," Chase started and then took a sip of his strawberry lemonade. "I couldn't stay in there; I would see, hear, smell, and feel you in every corner of the room. The memories kept me up at night."

An almost silent "oh" came from Aisha's mouth. She always regretted that day, she hated herself for acting so rashly. But who knew that she'd get abducted and separated from Chase for so long?

"We can move back in there if you want," Chase offered. "I grew tired of this room ages ago. I never felt like decorating it."

"Really?" Aisha asked with surprise.

Chase nodded as he jellied his toast. "It really is no trouble. You're back home now so nothing should go wrong. Now eat, you've been unconscious for a week and we have alot of things to do."

Aisha took her plate from the cart, it was already loaded with food just as Chase's was. It was a simple arrangement: sausage, eggs, toast, and some bacon strips. "What do we have to do today?"

The warlord sighed as his "To-Do" list popped into his head. "Well in no particular order, we have to convince your mother that you're _not _dead, visit the monks because your purse is still missing, figure out what to do about your job, and move your things from your apartment and get them here. Oh and move our stuff back to our old room"

"Umm..._What_? Why does my mother think that I'm _dead_?"

"We haven't gotten along too well since you disappeared so she does not trust me very much," Chase answered non-chalantly as he grabbed a few pastries from the cart.

"Oh well that pretty much explains _everything. _She's had tabs on me all of this time, she could've just handed me over to you," Aisha realized and Chase shrugged while he bit into his pastry. "Is that a Pillsbury's Toaster Strudel?"

"Yes, and no you can't have one."

"You have _four _on your plate."

"Because I eat _four_ every morning. It's been that way ever since I discovered their existence and it's going to stay that way." Chase declared. Aisha had almost forgotten about his love for sweets; clearly it had become worse in her absence.

". . . Chase, share," Aisha demanded.

The Heylin master, who had suddenly reverted to a 5-year-old brat who didn't understand what it meant to share, paused, he had two strudels left and although he loved Aisha very much, these pastries were what put him in a decent mood in the mornings. "No."

Aisha almost couldn't believe it, her 1,500 year old evil warlord boyfriend was acting like a brat and refused to share his toaster strudel. "Are you really gonna choose a _pastry_ over _me_."

". . . Fine." He stood up and placed the last strudel on her plate. "Next time, get your own," he smirked and kissed the top of her head before he took his third strudel and got ready for the day.

Aisha squealed in excitement and started to nibble on her toaster strudel. "Thanks babe! But clearly there's something wrong with us if we almost fought over a piece of bread."

"You thought that we were normal at some point?" Chase asked from the bathroom.

"Well...not exactly 'normal' in comparison to regular people, but in our world we are!"

"When you put it like that, I guess so. It actually does get worse than us."

"Really? Like what?"

"Trust me, you'll witness it soon enough."

With that, Chase got into the shower while Aisha finished up her breakfast.

"Shit," Aisha cursed under her breath.

"What?" Chase asked as he walked out of the bathroom. He was already dressed in black jeans, a white t-shirt and a dark grey, v-neck cardigan.

"They didn't grab my sweats when they got my clothes," Aisha answered as she went back through the rack of clothes from yesterday.

"Your dressing room is still intact. Maybe you can just wear your old training clothes. I'll send someone to get them."

"Do you think they'll still fit?"

Chase leaned back and gave her body a once over, all she wore was the black silk nightgown that was on the rack from the night before. "You seem to still be the same size, but your ass is a bit bigger than I remember," he smirked.

If she were any lighter, he would have definitely seen her blush as she laughed and shook her head on her way into the bathroom.

He gave her bottom a quick smack as she walked passed him. "Hurry up, please," he jokingly instructed.

"Ahh! You're such a clown!" Aisha laughed and shut the bathroom door

**- - -A LITTLE WHILE LATER AT THE XIAOLIN TEMPLE- - -**

It had been about a week since Chase came to the temple and destroyed a few of their buildings. All of the monks on the temple grounds helped out in trying to repair everything. They had made a considerable amount of progress in the past few days and today they were allowed to take a break and relax. Clay was in the gardens with Master Fung; Omi was training (of course) with Master Monk Guan, and Kimiko and Raimundo were versing each other in a new video game that Mr. Tohomiko sent her. Everything was going well that day, that is until:

"I sense danger!" Master Monk Guan and Omi shouted in unison after they paused in their sparring. Everyone else looked towards them, shocked that they said the same thing at the same time.

Omi sprinted away towards the front gates and peered through the bars to see who was coming. "It is Chase Young!"

Everyone was immediately at the gate and ready to defend their temple against their number one enemy but were kind of surprised to see him not wearing his usual armor..

"Calm down monks, I come in peace...today anyway," Chase smirked when he approached the gate.

"Hi guys!" Aisha smiled and stepped from behind Chase. Her boyfriend had been right, she had to squeeze her butt into her old pants, but none of her old shirts fit either so she just threw on a solid red, off the shoulder top from the clothing rack.

"Aisha!" the monks exclaimed happily to see their new friend alive and well.

"What are you guys doing here?" Kimiko asked.

"Yes, what _are _you doing here?" Master Monk Guan asked as he glared daggers at Chase. Chase returned the stare with evil figurative daggers of his own.

Aisha saw the stare down that the two men were having and rolled her eyes. "We just came by to ask if you guys happened to grab my purse when you found me in my car."

Omi opened the gate to allow Chase and Aisha onto the temple grounds. "I do not remember picking it up," Omi replied. The other male dragon warriors also shook their heads.

"Oh right! I took it with us as we left. I'm sorry, with everything that happened when you woke up, I completely forgot to give it to you," the Dragon of Fire remembered. "Just give me a sec, I'll bring it out." And with that, Kimiko went to fetch Aisha's purse, leaving the rest of the Xiaolin monks alone with Aisha and Chase. Talk about an awkward silence. . .

"Sooo Aisha, how's life been treatin' ya?" Clay asked in an effort to make conversation. The air around the group was thick with tension and hatred aimed at Chase Young.

"Umm, not too bad. I've got my memory back and I've been reunited with Chase," Aisha answered as she slipped her hand into Chase's and leaned her head on his shoulder. The warlord just continued to glare at Guan. "All in all, I can't really complain. How about you guys?"

"Not much has been going on. Ya'know, just defending the world from _evil_ and trying to rebuild the temple," Raimundo replied sarcastically.

"I am really, _really_ sorry about that. I didn't think he'd destroy buildings," Aisha said.

"Oh no, it's not your fault that some of our tallest towers are now piles of debris."

"But I really wish that there was some way to make it up to you guys."

"Well, like my Mama always said, 'An apology is the superglue of life. It can repair just about anything'," Clay quoted.

"Yeah, I guess an apology would be a good start," Raimundo shrugged.

"Chase, Chase dear," Aisha sweetly called to her beau as she gently tugged on his arm. It was useless, Chase was still in his glaring contest with Guan. ". . . _Chase_. . ." she called again with a few drops of anger, she didn't like being ignored. "Chase and Guan! I swear if you two don't stop acting like children, I'll rip your eyes out of your skulls and use them to play ping pong!"

Aisha's gruesome threat caught the Xiaolin men completely off guard, they were suddenly quite terrified and all took a step back from her and Chase. They weren't just afraid of Aisha's warning, they also feared how Chase would react to being threatened so violently.

Chase's expression just changed from loathing at Guan to his usually neutral mask. After a slight pause, he turned to Aisha, "...Yes?"

"Could you do me favor and apologize to the monks for knocking down parts of their temple?" Aisha asked back in her sweet voice.

A heavy silence fell upon the group. The monks stared at the highly unstable and dangerous couple in frightened anticipation for Chase's answer. At this moment, the pairing seemed extremely odd: there was sweet, caring Aisha waiting excitedly, with a smile, for Chase's response while the soulless warlord looked back at her blankly, all the while, their hands were firmly clasped in eachother's.

The moments passed slowly before Chase doubled over and let out a hearty, evil roar of a laugh at his lover's request. "Are...Are you _serious_?...You want _me_ to _apologize_ to the monks...for destroying a couple of their..of their rice paper towers?" He managed as he laughed. Aisha rolled her eyes in annoyance and the monks had nearly fallen over, they never thought that Chase Young even knew how to laugh. And just as suddenly as it came, his evil smile fell and he was serious once more, "You've got to be kidding me."

Aisha sighed. "Chase, its the simplest thing that you can do."

"No, _this _is the simplest thing that I can do," he replied and on the word "this" he snapped his fingers. The temple grounds shook violently and there was a roaring thunder. Everyone (except Chase) looked around and watched as the fallen buildings were rebuilding themselves.

"Holy shit! What just happened?" Kimiko exclaimed as she ran and rejoined the group with Aisha's black purse. The other monks were frozen in awe at what just occurred before them.

"Oh! Yay!" Aisha squealed and took the purse from her. "Thank you so much guys! But we must leave, we've gots lots of things to do today. See you later!"

Kimiko, as the only one not in shock, bid Aisha and their archenemies goodbye and the couple disappeared from the temple.

"Guys? Seriously though, what just happened?" The Dragon of Fire asked again.

Omi was the first one to speak, still in a bit of a trance. "Aisha managed to make Chase Young rebuild the towers he destroyed."

"She _made _Chase do _what_?" Kimiko repeated in disbelief.

"She asked him to apologize fer knockin' them down, but because he cares about his pride so darn'd much, he snapped his fingers and the towers rebuilt themselves..." Clay answered.

Rai continued the train of thought, "So in a way, because of Aisha, Chase did us a favor...he did something... _good._"

"It seems, young monks, that the world will indeed be in safe hands as long as they remain together," Master Fung reasoned and the group continued to look on at the temple's new towers in shock.

**- - -ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD- - -**

Chase and Aisha reappeared in a dark alley of a city.

"That was a really nice thing you did for the monks, babe," Aisha said to Chase before kissing his cheek as they walked from the alley and onto the sidewalk. It was nearing midnight in Manhattan yet the streets were still alive with people and cars.

"Trust me, it was much easier than _apologizing,_" Chase replied.

"But still, thank you." Aisha dug through her purse until she found her phone. "Jesus Christ Chase, did you tell _anyone _where I was?" They rounded the corner of the block as Aisha scanned through the massive list of missed calls and texts on her phone.

"It took a couple of days, but once I got hold of Erica, I told her that you were with me and to tell your mother not to come for you."

"What the-? Why would you tell her that?"

"She would have tried to take you while you were unconscious," Chase stated simply.

"Well did she listen?"

Chase nodded his head, "She kept calling me to check up on you though. I'm still trying to figure out how the hell she got my number..."

"Yea, Mamma can find anyone," Aisha replied as they entered their apartment building's lobby. She got out her key and went over to the mailboxes and grabbed her mail. ". . .Seriously?" She sighed as her mailbox vomitted its contents.

"Don't worry about it, we can burn all of it once I have someone take care of everything for you," Chase said and went to help her pick up her mail. After they got everything, they went to the elevator and up to Aisha's apartment.

"I'll be right back," Aisha said as she threw her pile of mail onto the kitchen table and then walked off into her room to change. The first place she checked was her closet and just as she had guessed, almost everything had been removed from it so she moved on to her dresser in her search for clothes.

"Come on, pick up your phone," Aisha whined into her cell phone as she walked out of her room a few minutes later; she decided to wear a short red sweater dress, black leggings, and black flats.

"Who are you on the phone with?" Chase asked from his seat on the couch, he was flipping through the channels on her TV while she changed.

"I'm waiting for Mamma to answer but-Hello? Hi Mamma!"

_"Hija? Oh hija! You're alright! How are you feeling?"_ Chase had a slightly amused look on his face, he could clearly hear Isabella's shrill voice on the phone from the other side of the room.

"I'm feeling just fine, Mamma. There's nothing to worry about," Aisha replied.

_"Oh good, Chase came through after all." _Isabella said with relief.

"Did you really doubt that he wouldn't have?"

_". . . Well..."_

"Nevermind Mamma. Forget I asked," Aisha sighed as she watched Chase's expression slowly become angrier.

_"Okay, so where are you, hija? We can meet up."_

Chase nearly jumped from his seat as a notepad and sharpie materialized in his hands; quickly he scribbled "NO" onto it and showed it to Aisha.

"Oh I'm sorry Mamma, we're kinda busy right now y'know now that I have my memory back and everything," Aisha replied in an attempt to lie.

_"Well what are you guys doing?"_

"Umm, we're um..." she couldn't come up with an answer. Chase flipped the page and wrote down "MOVING". "We're _moving_. Yes, we're moving stuff from my apartment to Chase's palace. It's gonna take us forever, and then we have to figure out where everything's gonna go."

_"Oh okay, no problem. Just give me a call when you're all settled in."_

"Okay Mamma! I'll talk to you later. I love you."

_"I love you too,hija!"_ And with that Aisha hung up the phone with a sigh.

"How is it that after 1500 years, you're still an awful liar?" Chase asked her.

"I only really ever have a problem when I'm lying to my mom. I'm always afraid of what'll happen when she learns the truth," she explained. "So now that she knows that I'm not dead, time to start moving!"

"Where should we start?"

Aisha sighed as she thought out the process. "Umm, I'll start in my room, with my clothes. I guess you can start here in the living room. Just pack up all of my CDs and movies. Actually, now that I think about it, I guess I won't need the TV, the couches, or the coffee table anymore..."

"We can bring it with us and then you can decide. The palace needs a bit of an update," Chase suggested.

"Hmm...Nah! Let's get rid of it and then when we get home, I can just buy new things for the palace," Aisha grinned; she really did love shopping.

"What makes you think that I even have any money?" Chase smirked.

"Fifteen hundred years is a long time to sit around and _not_ have any money. I mean, even though you can just take whatever you want, I'm pretty sure you have _loads_ of riches in some form or another. Whether its a huge room in the palace filled with treasures or cash in banks all over the world, you have money somewhere," Aisha reasoned. She wasn't a materialistic girl and she had more than enough money that she stowed away for herself, she just really enjoyed shopping and the sense of security that money brought with it. Honestly, she'd be just fine if she lived with Chase on some farm some place, as long as she didn't have to worry about too many things and they were together. "Besides, what would a _prince _be without his riches?" She finished and wrapped arms around Chase's neck.

The warlord snaked his own arms around her waist, "He could be whatever he wants as long as he has his _princess_ by his side."

Aisha was not expecting that to be his reply and it completely caught her off gaurd; she grinned and giggled at how sweet he was being before she inched up on her toes and placed a quick kiss on his lips. "Ohh, touché," she replied as she let go of him before things became too hot and heavy. "Now start packing please!"

Chase complied and went into the living room and started packing her CDs and movies into cardboard boxes that had materialized on the floor. Aisha went into the room and piled all of her clothes into every suitcase she had.

About an hour later, she walked out with her seventh suitcase. "Okay, so that's it for all of my clothes, shoes, and cosmetics."

Chase glanced into her bedroom and noticed two large garbage bags, one white and the other black, still in the room. "What about those?"

"_This _one," Aisha said dragging out the white bag, "is everything that I want to donate. And the other one I want to burn."

"Why would you want to burn them?"

"I have my reasons," Aisha smirked.

"And the duffle bag next to it?" Chase asked, he noticed that it was the same dufflebag from the night that he killed those two men.

"Oh, that's getting burned, too."

"Alright," Chase shrugged, clearly those two bags had something to do with her past...habits, and he didn't want to know anymore than he already knew so he didn't ask anymore questions. "I packed away all of your CDs and movies and threw away everything in your fridge. I assume that you want these plants?" He pointed to a box that he placed them in and Aisha nodded. "And what of this...statue?"

Chase held up a golden statue of an ornately dressed women with four arms, each one holding a different and rather violent object; one held a sword, another a trident, another had a severed head, and the fourth had a bowl of fire.

"Yes, _that_ we have to keep."

Chase looked at it warily, it was quite gruesome. "...Are you sure?"

"I'm positive," Aisha assured him and carefully took the statue from his hands

"Who is she?"

"The Hindu goddess Kali, the destroyer."

"I have a feeling that there is an entire backstory to this..."

"Of course there is! But that's for another time. How are we getting everything back home?"

Chase went over to the bathroom door and opened it, the inside of Aisha's bathroom was now the inside of her dressing room back at Chase's citadel. "Just throw everything in there, the servants will take care of putting your things away."

Aisha looked at him suspiciously, "...I hope you haven't been opening portals between here and your palace while I didn't remember you..."

A mischievious smile crossed Chase's lips as he began tossing her suitcases into the next room, "I don't know. Have I?"

". . . That's _so_ creepy, Chase, and a total disregard of my privacy," she replied stepping through the portal and placing her statue on the dresser.

Chase chuckled, "Don't worry, Aisha, I have not been opening portals to your apartment."

"Oh okay!" Aisha laughed and they continues to move her things.

Once everyting she was keeping was gone, Chase snapped his fingers and the portal disappeared.

"We aren't leaving yet?" Aisha asked.

"No, we just have to make a stop up to my apartment," Chase answered and with that, they disappeared upstairs.

* * *

**Ugghhhh that last third of this chapter was quite painful for me to write...it felt so boring that I just wanted it to end, I guess it's cause it was straight dialouge. Oh well.**

**The next chapter won't be up for a while. I'm hopefully going on vacation next week and then school starts the 31st... yayy school... But that will give me lots of time to make sure that I tie this and the previous story together much better than I already have because as I've noticed, I'm doing a shitty job XD Even the timeline is a bit messed up. Oh btw, in the story it is now Thursday night, Sept 22 in New York and Friday morning, Sept 23rd in China. I decided that I did want the time difference incorporated into the story... I've just made things much more difficult for myself haven't I? XP **

**Til next time, please fill my inbox with reviews! THANKS!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Ughhhh so I've had this finished and sitting on ice for weeks now because I was originally going to upload this and the next chapter on the same day because I think you guys deserve a double chapter after my 7 month hiatus...but then i started feeling worse because the next chapter is taking forever and school is annoying and work is eating up all of my free time...So I've caved and Voila! Here is chapter 14.**

**PLEASE REVIEW! I really need the motivation. ((THANKS Dire Heart, GothicGoddess-13, and Acro111 for the reviews! 3 Sorry for the wait!))**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**The Past is Back**

**Chapter 14**

Chase and Aisha reappeared in Chase's apartment and Aisha immediately realized that she had almost forgotten about someone. Li-liang and Elonzo stood up from their seats on the couch and bowed when they saw Chase and Aisha.

Aisha smiled softly at them. She was pretty sure that she didn't meet them when she lived with Chase before, but since they were with him at her friend's engagement party, they must have been very trustworthy. "Is she asleep?"Aisha asked them.

"Yes Lady Aisha," Li-liang answered.

Aisha went to a door and opened it. There, in the bed, laid her adopted daughter sound asleep with her pet tiger curled up at the foot of the bed. When Haidar noticed that she entered the room, he ran over to Aisha and nuzzled his giant furry head against hers in affection; he knew that his master's mistress was back to her old self. After Aisha hugged the ancient tiger, she sat on the bed and stroked Kiara's hair as tears began to form in her eyes.

She hated herself for leaving her so suddenly; she had deserted her just like her real mother did. Poor Kiara, it must've been really tough for her to be raised by Chase for so long... But from what Aisha could tell, everything seemed to have worked out.

The child's body stirred from Aisha's touch and she slowly opened her eyes. She looked up to see Aisha smiling down at her.

"Mommy?" Kiara asked; Aisha nodded in response. "Mommy!" she called just before she started to sob.

Tears were also welling up in Aisha's eyes as she hugged Kiara. "I'm so sorry I left you, baby. I'm so sorry."

Kiara nodded slightly against Aisha's shirt and began to calm down.

"I see that Haidar has taken really good care of you," Aisha joked.

"Ahem." Chase cleared his throat as he stood in the doorway.

"He got some help from Chase, though," Kiara smiled at her adoptive father's annoyance and then the two girls fell into a fit of laughter.

The warlord couldn't help but smile at the antics of his two favorite people. He didn't care that at the moment he was the butt of their joke, he was just glad that they were together again; their family was reunited and everything could go back to how it used to be.

- - -SOMETIME LATER- - -

It had been about two weeks since Chase, Aisha, and Kiara were finally together as a family again after their 1500 year separation and everything couldn't have been going better for them.

A few days after moving her stuff into Chase's citadel, Aisha realized how much she missed Manhattan and begged Chase to let them move back there. Luckily, Chase didn't get rid of the apartment he was using back when Aisha couldn't remember anything, so they agreed to go back as long as Chase was allowed to keep a portal back to the palace open in a closet for easy access back home; he didn't enjoy living in Manhattan as much as Aisha did.

"Well do you think you'll be home for dinner tonight?" Aisha asked. She had her phone pressed to her ear with one hand while the other reached for a box of pasta.

"Oh, I thought you were going to be in New York tonight," the masculine voice on the other line replied.

"What? Of course I'll be here, I'm asking if you're coming to dinner tonight." Aisha tossed the pasta into her shopping cart and pushed it down the aisle.

"By 'home' I thought you meant our real home...in China."

". . . So I'm guessing that you won't be here for dinner."

"Is that Abidah?" Kiara asked as she skipped towards Aisha with a few boxes of cereal. "Can I talk to him? I wanna talk to him!" Aisha handed her phone to her.

"Abidah?"

"Hello Ae Cha," Chase answered.

"Abidah, are you coming to dinner tonight? I'm making lemon bars for dessert."

"Oh I'm sorry, Ae Cha. I'll be working late again tonight." Kiara knew better than to ask Chase what he was "working" on. Over the years, Chase made it a point to make sure that Kiara never found out what he did and that he was on the Heylin side. How he managed to do that however, is still a mystery...

The little girl sighed, "Okay, Abidah. But you've been working late all week... Is this because you're mad at Mommy because she doesn't want to go back to China?"

"What? No, no, no, Ae Cha. I just won't be able to get away from work until really late tonight. And I'm not mad at Aisha, okay? Now tell me, how was school today?"

A rather unhappy expression fell on Kiara's face when he mentioned school. "Honestly, I cannot even come up with a logical reason as to why you send me there..." Chase let out a hearty laugh at her response. "Abidah! Its not funny! I'm miserable there! I'm surrounded by imbeciles! I hate it!"

At that moment, Aisha reached her hand out and Kiara handed the phone back to her before walking off to get the rest of the things on their shopping list.

"Seriously Chase, can we just take her out of school? She doesn't even belong there and she really does hate it."

"Sure, but what is she going to do all day while_ you're_ at work?"

"No Chase. Do not blame this on me," Aisha replied sternly. Despite disappearing for a little more than a week and against Chase's demands-I mean wishes, Aisha decided that she wanted to go back to work. It was something that the two were constantly arguing about it. "She can do what she always did when she didn't go to school."

There was a slight pause on Chase's end. ". . . I would seriously advise not leaving her to her own devices. . ."

"I mean of course someone will be there to watch her. She could just stay in China at the citadel during the day and then she'll come to Manhattan once I'm done with work. . . Or even better! She can visit the monks! Oh that's perfect!"

"WHAT?" Chase shouted. "No! Absolutely not!"

"Oh wait, what was that Chase?... You are coming to dinner tonight?" Aisha said rather dramatically just as Kiara rounded the corner with her arms full of groceries. A bright smile spread across her face when she heard that her father would be joining them for dinner.

"Aisha? Aisha! I forbid you from sending Kiara to stay with the monks!" Chase commanded, but Aisha didn't care.

"Umm, I think dinner should be ready at about eight or eight-thirty," she continued.

"...I hate when you blatantly ignore me like this..." Chase stated monotonly; he knew that he had lost this battle.

"Okay! I'll see you later, honey! I love you!" The warlord's girlfriend said cheerfully into the phone.

"Yeah sure you do..."

Aisha handed her phone to Kiara, "Send Daddy kisses."

The little girl giggled, "Muwah! I love you Abidah! See you later!"

"I love you too, Ae Cha." And with that he hung up the phone.

"Yes!" Aisha and Kiara exclaimed in unison at their victory of getting Chase to come to dinner for the first time since they moved in. It was now Friday and everyday before then, he had some excuse for not having dinner with them in their New York apartment.

- -A FEW HOURS LATER- -

"Hello?" Chase called as he entered the apartment.

"Abidah!" Kiara exclaimed and ran to him.

He caught her in his arms and placed a soft kiss on the top of her head. "Hi, Ae Cha."

"Oh! You're early," Aisha said from the kitchen as she stirred the contents in a large pot on the stove.

Chase wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and, with one of his hands placed under her chin, tilted her head towards him and pressed his lips against hers.

"So what's for dinner?" he asked her. He grabbed a spoon from the counter and dipped it into the pot.

"Hey! No tasting! You can wait five more minutes," Aisha scolded as she took the spoon away from him. "And its beef & eggplant rigatoni."

"But I'm starving."

"Have a cookie, Abidah!" Kiara offered him a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

"Thank you Ae Cha, at least _you_ care about me," Chase remarked with a smirk at Aisha.

The young woman just rolled her eyes and continued to stir the pot. "Stop being so dramatic, Chase. And don't eat too many, you'll ruin your dinner."

"No we won't," the warlord replied as he reached into a cabinet to take out some plates and set the table.

- - -AFTER DINNER- - -

"So have you spoken to your mother recently?" Chase asked Aisha from the living room. He was sitting on the couch munching on a lemon bar.

Aisha had just tucked Kiara into bed and raised an eyebrow at Chase as she sat next to him on the couch. "Umm, no, not since we moved in. Why?"

"I was just wondering," Chase responded casually. "It's been over a week; I would have expected her to have visited at least a few times by now."

Aisha was silent for a moment as she thought about what Chase said. "…You're right, that is very unlike her. . . You know something, don't you?"

"What? I don't know anything that's going on with her."

"Then why'd you bring her up?"

"I don't know, it just seems a little odd that we have not heard from her," he replied before taking a sip of his red wine.

"Well, I'll just call her in the morning." And with that, Aisha finished off the rest of her own glass of wine before taking it and the now empty platter of lemon bars to the kitchen. After she put the dishes in the sink, she went off to her room.

She stopped when she got to the doorway and turned around. "Chase?" she called to him.

"Yeah?" Chase answered from the couch; he was distracted by the football game on TV.

"You're not coming to bed?"

In a blink of an eye, he was standing next to her. "I didn't know that I was invited," he smirked.

Aisha just rolled her eyes and laughed as she walked into her room. She had already changed into her pajamas before she put Kiara to bed, so once she was under the covers, she watched Chase as he changed out of his suit into a pair of pajama pants.

"Don't you just love this?" Aisha asked him as he joined her in the bed.

"Do I love what?"

She shrugged before answering. "This. Coming home from work to your "wife" and kid, having a family dinner, then putting Kiara to bed, and then falling asleep with me."

"Of course I do, I love my girls," Chase replied, referring to Aisha and Kiara.

Aisha scooted over to him and rested her head and hand on his chest. "So then why don't you ever want to stay here with us?"

Chase inhaled as he wrapped an arm around Aisha's back before answering, "I just don't like being here in New York. There's something about this place that just does not sit well with me..."

"It's probably just all of the noise; you're used to the solitude in China," his girlfriend guessed just as they heard sirens blaring outside.

"Well the constant traffic noise definitely does not help," he half-joked. "But seriously, it's as though I can _feel _that something is off about this island. It all started..."

Aisha lifted her head to look at him after he stopped midway in his sentence. "It all started when?"

The warlord paused before he answered, he could see an argument coming. "It started a couple of weeks ago."

"Well what happened a couple weeks ago?"

A slightly frustrated sigh sounded from Chase's lips, she would be absolutely livid if he told her what he did. Yep, they probably wouldn't sleep tonight.

". . .Chase? What the hell happened?" He remained silent and just looked on at her. ". . . You did something didn't you?" Silence. ". . .And that something's _really _gonna piss me off isn't it?" Silence. "God dammit, Chase! Who'd you kill?"

"Just a few people."

"What kind of few? Like a normal person's few or your few?"

Chase glanced away from her quickly as he actually did the math. "Hmm... A little less than my few."

Aisha got out of the bed with a loud exasperated sigh and threw her arms in the air. "Why, Chase? _Why?"_

"I had my reasons," he answered with some impatience while Aisha paced across the room.

"Chase, what reasons could you have possibly had that would make you kill people?"

"It was for you of course," Chase replied simply.

Aisha stopped and looked at him, "I didn't ask you to kill anyone for me... Were they after me?"

"Not exactly, no." Aisha just crossed her arms and stared at him. Chase sighed as he explained what happened, "I had Erica comprise a list of people for me that you may or may not really remember from recent years."

"What? Like what kind of people?" Aisha was so lost.

_'I'm going to have so much hell to pay for this one...' _Chase thought before answering. "They were men..."

"_Men?_ There aren't any men that I know who have gone missing..." After a few moments though, she finally realized what he meant. "Jesus Christ, Chase! You killed the men that I've slept with? "

"Yes Aisha, please shout it louder so that Kiara knows that her mother used to be a _whore,"_ Chase replied sarcastically and rolled his eyes.

Aisha was completely taken aback by his statement. "Fuck you!" She shouted and went to her closet for her coat.

"Oh great, it's finally my turn..." he muttered a bit too loudly which led to him having to dodge a barrage of flying shoes from the closet.

"You fucking asshole!" Aisha cursed at him before stomping out of the room in anger.

'Shit!' Chase thought as he leaped from the bed and practically ran after Aisha, but she was already heading downstairs by the time he entered the hallway outside the apartment. The warlord growled in frustration as he snapped his fingers. His magic made a pair of shoes and a coat appear over his pajamas and Li-liang and Elonzo appeared behind him. "Watch her," Chase commanded in reference to Kiara before leaving to continue after Aisha.

- -DOWNSTAIRS- -

"Aisha, wait!" Chase called as he watched her leave through the lobby's doors but she just kept walking. "Aisha! Would you just calm down!"

"No! Fuck off!" She shouted at him before turning a corner. Chase broke out into a run and quickly passed her and stopped her in her tracks.

"Aisha, you know that I didn't mean what I said," he said softly in an attempt to calm her down.

"You never say anything unless you mean it," Aisha replied as tears formed.

"Well can you really blame me for being upset?" Chase sighed. "You are mine; you always have been and you always will be. But it has always seemed as though you weren't."

"I know and I'm so sorry!" She sobbed into his chest and wrapped her arms around his back. "I never meant to do anything that would hurt you and everyday I wish that I could undo everything, all the way back to when I first left you."

Chase returned the embrace by wrapping his arms around her neck and resting his chin on the top of her head. "Everything has happened the way it did for a reason," he sighed, trying to comfort himself and Aisha with his logic. "We cannot just go into the past and fix our mistakes... Well... we could but-"

"Wait, we can?" She asked as she stepped away from him.

"Yes, but altering the past always has serious consequences an-"

"I don't care. Chase, we could be together like we were supposed to be. Think about it; no heartache, no searching, just love," she smiled as she tried to convince him that it was a good idea.

Chase returned the smile, admiring her drive. "No. I would rather live through everything that we did than have you go to the past and try to change things. I have already lost you, but was able to find you. If you go back, yes, we will most likely be together, but who knows for how long and what tragic event will happen in return." Aisha's smile faded. "We have each other here and now and from this point forward. That is all that matters."

Overcome with suddenly strong feelings of happiness and love, Aisha buried her face into Chase's chest again and sobbed, "That's so sweet!"

The warlord chuckled. "Aisha..."

"Yeah?" she sniffed as she looked up at him.

He placed his hands on her hips to pull her closer to him and then kissed her forehead, "I love you."

"Oh my God! Stop it! I can't take anymore!" Aisha laughed.

"You are absolutely adorable when you're embarrassed."

"...Who are you and what have you done with my Chase?"

Chase just chuckled again as he threw his arm around her shoulders and led her towards the apartment. "Come on, let's go back, I'm tired."

* * *

**This ones seems really mediocre, especially considering how long it took me to write it... Well truth be told, most of the time I was figuring out the time lines and outline for the rest of the story and conducting lots of "research". LOL oh and if Chase seems a bit OOC, well that's cuz he is, I wanted him to be"normal" or like at least just a good father figure and boyfriend despite being a complete evil badass XD**

**Oh well, I hope you enjoyed this. Also, I have no idea when the next chapter will be done...maybe by spring break?**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey everyone! I'd like to thank Acro111, xxyangxx2006, and Dire Heart for their reviews! They really mean alot to me. And I'd also like to thank anyone else who's out there reading this and I hope you're enjoying my work!**

**Happy Reading Guys!**

* * *

**The Past is Back**

**Chapter 15**

It is now early November, almost two months since Aisha regained her memories of Chase and their past together. The couple had managed to get past their last argument without too much trouble and despite Chase's demands- I mean wishes, the Young "family", is still based out of Chase's New York apartment and has settled into a lovely little daily routine... Well, almost lovely and not quite daily routine...

"So, what are you two up to today?" Chase asked as he walked into the kitchen. He had a late start (if you consider 8 AM late) to the morning and had just woken up to find Aisha and Kiara fully dressed and eating breakfast.

"Well, I just made some omelets and after we eat, I'm gonna drop Kiara off at the monks' and then I'm going to work," Aisha answered.

"Excuse me?" The warlord couldn't believe what he was hearing. "We have already had this discussion Aisha, and you said that you were going to stop working."

"I said that I would think about it."

"Why do you even bother having a job? You don't need it and I am pretty sure that there is a multitude of things you'd rather be doing."

"I don't know, I'm just used to working I guess..."

"Well in that case, as your boss, I'm going to have to fire you."

"What the- Chase!"

"You won't listen to me and quit, so I'm just going to have you fired."

"Oh my God! What is your deal? What do you have against me working?"

Chase shrugged, "...I just don't want you working."

Aisha let out a frustrated sigh. "Honestly, this is a fucking joke. If having a job is really bothering you so much fucking much, I'll just give in my two weeks notice today so that you'll shut the fuck up about it. I'm tired of arguing about this with you."

"Thank you," Chase said with a very satisfied smile.

"Whatever, fuck you," Aisha mumbled under her breath. "C'mon Kiara, time to drop you off at the monks'."

"Oh, yeah, that's the other thing; Kiara is not going to the Xiaolin Temple."

"But Abidah, they're so much fun!" Kiara pleaded.

"You've been there before?" The warlord demanded.

"Well while you were doing God knows what in Russia for the last three weeks, I had work and Kiara hated school, so I took her to the Xiaolin Temple a couple of times. They all had a good time," Aisha explained.

"If its a problem, I can just go to Abuelita's," Kiara offered.

"No, she's not gonna be home today."

"You've let your mother watch her too? I thought that you two weren't speaking," Chase commented in disbelief.

"We've worked through it, plus, its good for Kiara to spend time with her grandmother."

"Aisha, your mother hid you from me for 1500 years, I don't understand how you can just work through that in three weeks."

"I know, I know, but I can see why she did it. She was just looking out for me... She could've gone about it in a different way, but she was just trying her best."

The warlord sighed, "I can't believe that while I was gone for three weeks, you two managed to disobey just about everything I told you."

"Abidah, haven't you realized? We are not the easiest people to control," Kiara said sweetly. Then she and Aisha simultaneously broke out into identical sweet yet slightly devilish smiles.

"... Maybe you two should be spending less time together..." Chase mused as he looked on at his two girls with furrowed eyebrows. _'They look like they enjoy stressing me out by completely disregarding everything that I tell them to do...'_

**_'No... I think they're out to kill us...'_** Chase's inner dragon replied.**_'Can you make them stop now... They're really starting to creep me out...'_**

"You two can stop now..."

"Okay!" Aisha and Kiara responded cheerfully.

"See you later, babe," Aisha said as she went up to him and quickly kissed him on his lips.

"Bye Abidah!" Kiara said as she gave him a hug goodbye. Then the dynamic duo was out the door and on their way to start their day.

"Those two are going to give me gray hairs..." Chase mumbled to himself as he went to make himself an omelet. "I don't want gray hairs..."

**- - -A FEW HOURS LATER- - -**

*RING! RING! . . . RING! RING!*

"Hello?" Chase grumbled into his cellphone. He had given himself the day off from his evil doings and was just about to settle into his throne, with a nice big slice of German chocolate cake, to listen to his servants update him on any developments while he was away.

_"Hey babe, I need you to pick up Kiara from school,"_ Aisha said from the other line of the phone.

"I thought you took her to the monks' today," Chase replied with slight confusion.

_"No, she felt bad about us breaking all of your rules while you were gone so she wanted me to take her to school."_

"Oh... Wait, how many of my rules did you two break while I was gone?"

_"That doesn't matter now, Chase. I just need you to go pick her up."_

"Well why can't you do it?"

_"I can't leave work early to go get her today."_

The warlord let out an exasperated sigh, "Fine, what time does she finish?"

_"...How do you not know what time she gets out of school? She's been going there for like 3 months now..."_

"Usually I have Elonzo or Li-liang pick her up, but I sent them to run an errand for me."

_"Oh, well she gets out at 2:30, but you should go now, her teacher called, she said that there's something wrong..."_

"What do you mean? Is Kiara alright?"

Aisha paused, the sudden worry in Chase's voice caught her completely off guard. _"Umm I'm not sure, she just said that something seemed really off with her. I don't know what it could be though because she was fine when I dropped her off like four hours ago..."_

"Alright, I'm leaving for New York now," Chase replied and immediately stood up from his throne and handed his cake off to one of his servants. He vanished from his throne room and reappeared in the New York apartment, still on the phone with Aisha. Something was definitely not right...

_"Okay, I'll call the school and tell them to have her ready. Call or text me when you find her, kay?"_

"I will." He grabbed his keys from the kitchen table and headed out of the door to the building's parking garage. He was already dressed in a dark grey button down dress shirt with black pants; despite the cold weather however, he left without a jacket.

Aisha could sense that Chase was definitely not feeling very well about what was going on and that made her uneasy. _"Chase, I love you. ... A-and tell Kiara that I love her too, okay?"_ Aisha knew better than to expect an "I love you" back from Chase, especially when he was in this mood.

"I will," he replied as he got into his car. "I'm in the car now, call the school."

_"O-okay, bye,"_ Aisha responded before hanging up. She was now very worried about what might be going on with her daughter. She nibbled on her thumb nail as she waited for someone at Kiara's school to pickup the phone.

**- - -WITH CHASE- - -**

Chase was nearly sprinting down the school's hallways to find the nurse's office. After asking a security guard, he followed the man's directions to a door labeled "NURSE". He opened the door to find Kiara sitting on a chair across the room with her head buried in her lap and slightly rocking back and forth.

Worry was clearly etched on Chase's face as he quickly went up to her and lowered himself in front of her. He was about to hug her until one of the nurse's exclaimed, "Excuse me sir! Who are you? And what do you think you're doing?" The nurse stepped towards Chase and Kiara as if to separate them.

The warlord shot a glare at her and growled, "I'm her father."

The nurse quickly recoiled and backed away from the pair in fear of Chase. "Oh! I'm so sorry Mr. Young. It's just that you came in here so fast- It just didn't register with me right away when you-"

"Just tell me what happened," Chase interrupted shortly, referring to Kiara.

"Oh-! Um... we're not sure. Her teacher said that she was fine when she first came in, but at around 10, she could tell that Kiara seemed very depressed and despondent. She wouldn't do any of the class activities, she stopped speaking and then after recess, the teacher found her in the corner, very much like she is now: curled up in a ball and rocking back and forth. The teacher had to have a security guard carry her from the classroom like this because she wouldn't move..."

Chase turned back to Kiara and gently petted her head. "Ae cha? Ae cha, look at me."

Kiara slowly lifted her head and unfolded herself from her position. "Abidah!" she sobbed as she threw herself into his arms. "Abidah, yo tengo miedo! Je veux rentrer à la maison!

"Sshh! Okay, we'll go home and sort all of this out," Chase responded softly as he stood up with her still in his arms. "Do I have to sign anything or are we good to go?"

"No, no, you can go."

"Thank you," Chase said as he left the nurse's office. By the time they reached the school's parking lot, Kiara had calmed down and was now hanging limply over her adoptive father's shoulders.

"Are you going to tell me what is wrong?" Chase asked of her once they were in the car and heading back to the apartment.

Kiara remained silent for a few moments before quietly answering, "I saw him today..."

"You saw who?"

"...I saw... my father..." Kiara replied almost inaudibly.

Chase's eyes widened in shock and he slammed on the car's brakes when he heard her response. "What do you mean that you saw your father? He's been dead for more than 1,500 years."

"I know..."

Chase was at a loss for words; how could she have seen her dead father? Was it a hallucination? A ghost? A trick from an enemy or possibly a demon in disguise?

"A-abidah. Abidah, you've stopped the car in the middle of the road...Abidah? Oh geez, you're about to break the steering wheel. Abidah?"

"Shit!" The warlord cursed as he snapped out of his thoughts; his sudden reawakening resulted in a slight but strong twitch that separated the steering wheel he was holding onto from the dashboard. "SHIT!" he shouted at the damage and hurled the steering wheel through the windshield. In the next second, the scene around them and the car changed from the middle of New York City to the interior of Chase's citadel. Chase had transported them, while still in the car, back home.

"Haidar!" Chase roared after he got out of the car. The tiger was at his side an instant later. "You and Kiara are to go to the den and stay there until I arrive." Kiara and Haidar each nodded and then took off down the hallway.

By this point, several of Chase's fallen warriors and servants had filed into the hall. They knew that something was off, especially since their master had parked his car in the middle of the hallway...

"You and you," Chase pointed at a warrior and a servant, "go to the den and watch over Kiara. Make sure she stays there." They nodded and went to do what they were told. "You two," the warlord now pointed to a couple of his warriors, "go find Aisha and make sure that she gets here safely. I will send Elonzo and Li-liang to assist you." These warriors also turned to follow their master's orders.

Chase pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and was walking away to make a call when one of the servants called to him. "Sire, what would you like us to do with the car?"

"...Give it to Spicer, he will be glad to have it," Chase answered as he dialed a number into his phone and put it to his ear, waiting for someone to answer.

_"Hello?"_ a feminine voice answered.

"Aisha, I have Kiara, she's fine but she's just a bit shaken up," Chase replied.

_"Well what happened?"_

"I will tell you when you get here. I need you to come home to China as soon as you get out of work."

_"Okay,"_ Aisha complied with some reservation. Why didn't he just tell her what was going on?

"I will send Elonzo, Li-liang, and two other warriors to escort you here safely."

_"Safely? Chase, what the hell is going on? Why do I need four bodyguards?"_

"I will tell you when you get here," Chase repeated.

_"...Fine,"_ Aisha sighed._ "I gotta go, I have another call. I'll see you later, babe."_

"Stay safe, my love," he responded; he knew that Aisha was smiling at this on the other end of the line.

_"Hahaha, bye,"_ she laughed before hanging up.

After Chase hung up from his call with Aisha, he then called Li-liang and told him what he and Elonzo were to do next.

**- - -A FEW HOURS LATER- - -**

"Hello?" Aisha called as she stepped into the den.

"Mommy!" Kiara exclaimed as she jumped from the couch and ran into her mother's arms.

"Hey baby, what happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm doing better Mommy," she replied with a weak smile. Aisha then looked over at Chase for his input.

"Li-liang, Elonzo, come in and close the door," Chase said to his most trusted warriors. He sighed before explaining what happened. "Kiara saw her father today."

"What?" Aisha questioned with disbelief.

"Kiara saw her dead father today," the warlord repeated.

"But- What? How is that even- Kiara are you positive that it was him?" Aisha asked after tripping over her words.

The girl nodded. "I know that it was him. He looked exactly the same."

"Okay, okay... Well it's been 1500 years, there's no way that he could look the same without using some sort of magic, right?" Aisha suggested as she began to pace around the room.

"But even if he did manage to survive that long, no one was supposed to know that she was in New York. No one should even know about her and that she even exists," Chase replied.

"Are you sure? You did use her full name..."

"Yes, I made sure that no one would know who we were or make the connection. Today's population knows nothing of our world and I hid Kiara from it for centuries. I also made a point to run extensive background checks on everyone at her school. They all turned out to be simple humans."

"Hmm . . . Well maybe he was a ghost? Do you remember if he had a shadow? Did anything weird happen before today?"

Kiara shook her head. "I don't know if he's a ghost; he didn't seem transparent... I don't remember him getting that close..."

"Well what do you remember?" Chase asked.

". . . The last time that I saw him, he told me that he'd get me back," the little girl answered. "And that, 'The man and woman who took you will pay. I have a new friend that will make sure of it'. And then he... he smiled," she continued with great disgust on the last word. "It was such an... awful smile. It was nothing like my father's."

Chase and Aisha's eyes went wide as the same thought passed through their minds.

Aisha swallowed before cautiously asking, "What did his smile look like?"

Kiara's face twisted as the image returned to her mind. "It was crooked... and some of his teeth were missing... And the ones that were left were all stained yellow..."

"Oh my God," the words fell from Aisha's lips as she felt her heart skip a beat.

She turned to Chase to him literally fuming with anger; along with his clenched fists, he bared his teeth, and his breathing was shaky and uneven, a few of his exhales even came out as spurts of black flames.

"Did I say something wrong?" Kiara asked as she watched her parents' reactions.

"Um... no honey, but um, let's just duck behind the couch just in case anything happens," Aisha answered with some uneasiness as she moved herself and Kiara to crouch behind the couch, away from Chase. Li-Liang, Elonzo, and Haidar were around them in an instant, protecting them from any potential shrapnel from Chase's oncoming outburst.

A few seconds later, Chase let out an inhuman roar that echoed throughout the entire citadel; the fortress shook and a loud boom sounded, possibly signaling that the volcano that they were situated in erupted... After about half a minute, Chase's roar abruptly stopped as he disappeared from the room in a burst of black flame.

"... Is it safe to move now?" Kiara asked once the ordeal was over. The group then unfolded themselves from their position on the floor. "So what just happened?"

"Chase believes that Hannibal Roy Bean is the reason that you saw your real father today," Li-Liang explained.

"And man is he royally pissed," Elonzo added as his body cringed as though reacting to a sudden, loud noise.

Li-liang however maintained his composure. "Through our telepathic connection with him, he is currently shouting at us and the rest of his legion about the fact that we 'allowed' Hannibal to get so close to you."

"Jesus Christ! Its not like we wanted something like this to happen!" Elonzo commented.

"Master Chase is currently trying to rectify the situation. Everyone is now placed on high alert... You two are not allowed to the leave the fortress... He is sending out search teams to investigate the school, your job Lady Aisha, and the apartment... If anyone sees Jack Spice or Wuya, they are to be apprehended immediately and brought to him," Li-liang continued as he relayed Chase's orders to his eternal servants.

"Wuya's alive?" Aisha asked in complete disbelief.

Li-liang nodded, "Yes, she resides here from time to-"

"She lives here?" Aisha's own anger was reaching dangerous heights.

The Chinese soldier took a couple of steps away from his lord's suddenly terrifying girlfriend. "Sometimes..."

"WHAT?" she shrieked and then grabbed onto the collar of his shirt. "Where the fuck is Chase?" she demanded.

"Lady Aisha, I don't think that this is the best time for that-"

"Where the hell is he?" she shouted in his face as she shook him.

Elonzo caught hold of Aisha's arms and tried to pry her off his fellow soldier, "He's in a conference with some other warlords and Heylin in the War Room!"

Aisha immediately let go of Li-liang when she got her answered and then turned to leave.

"But he's in a meeting!" Elonzo called after her.

"Does it look like a give a flying fuck?" she replied before waling out of the room.

"Well I guess things can't get much worse at this point," Elonzo sighed.

"You did not see the malice in her eyes, they could probably kill each other," Li-liang contended.

"Oh man up. No one could be as bad as Chase..."

**- - -IN THE WAR ROOM- - -**

"Thank you all, I really do appreciate your cooperation in this matter," Chase said to his audience: a dozen or so holographic screens of warlords, rulers, and other dignitaries.

"Chase! Open the damn door, dammit!" an irate feminine voice shouted from the hallway after pounding on the door.

The people on the screens began to wonder about the mysterious voice that was blatantly swearing at the Prince of Darkness.

"Pay no attention to the person in the hallway," Chase smiled at the screens, he then turned to the door and shouted, "they will be taken care of in a fucking moment if they would exercise some god damn patience!"

The pounding on the door stopped, but was followed by a very audible "Fucking asshole!"

Chase narrowed his eyes at the door and a growled in annoyance before turning back to his original conversation. "Good day everyone," he concluded and then snapped his fingers, making all of the screens disappear.

"What do you want woman? What? WHAT? WHAT?"Chase growled as he opened the door to find a very furious Aisha glaring back at him. "I just left you a couple of minutes ago, what could I have done in that span of time to piss you off?"

"You let Wuya live here with my daughter!"

"Seriously? Our lives could be in danger, and you're mad at me for letting Wuya live here a few times since you've been gone?"

"Yes!"

". . . I can not have this discussion with you right now," Chase stated as he turned away from her and directed his attention to the world map that was engraved into the War Room's table.

"Yes you can, and you will. How long has she been here?"

The warlord sighed, he wasn't going to escape her now... "I don't really know. Maybe on and off for the last few years."

"Oh...So this was a recent thing? Why?"

Chase shrugged, "Well after Spicer released her from her puzzle box, we joined alliances and then had a falling out, and then we joined alliances again and had another falling out. It was on and off for a while and most recently, she we were working together... Until now of course."

" 'On and off'? You two weren't-? You guys didn't-?"

The Heylin let out his hearty, evil laugh at Aisha's questions, he knew exactly what she was trying to ask. "No we were never romantically involved. However...there was that one time after consuming an enormous amount of alcohol..."

Aisha had a look of pure disgust etched onto her face, "Oh God no..."

Chase smirked devilishly, "I'm kidding! I would never do that to you my love." And he gently kissed the top of her head.

"Oh good," Aisha sighed in relief. "Now who is this Jack Spicer that I've been hearing about."

At that moment, the doors to the War Room flew open as a voice exclaimed, "Chase! You got me car? And it's a fucking Masarati? Holy shit! You're amazing! You're beyond amazing! You're my hero!"

Aisha yelped as she was shoved out of the way by some guy who latched himself onto hey boyfriend.

"This is Jack Spicer," Chase explained with a very displeased look. ". . . Remember Spicer, even though you are my apprentice, the three second rule still applies."

"Right!" Jack said as he released his idol and bowed to him. "Thank you Chase, for the car. I deeply appreciate your generosity."

The warlord just waved his hand at him and Jack stood up straight. "Jack, I would like for you to meet Aisha," Chase introduced her.

"...Wow..." Jack commented as he looked up at her, "You're gorgeous..."

"She's also mine," Chase added, waking Jack from his daze.

"What? Oh, wow! I'm sorry! Let's start over," Jack stammered. "Hi, my name is Jack Spicer, Chase's apprentice. You are beautiful... in the most un-sexual way possible. I mean, not to say that you aren't sexy, because you really are but Chase would probably kill me if I said that so I'm going to shut up now."

"Well its nice to meet you, Jack Spicer," Aisha smiled as she reached out her hand towards him. Jack also smiled and shook her hand in return. "So you're Chase's apprentice, huh?" Aisha gave Jack a once over. He was just as tall as Chase, seemed to be in his early twenties the oldest, and even though he had a thin build frame, his handshake was firm, suggesting that underneath his gothic attire, he was probably comprised entirely of lean muscle. His most striking feature however were his bright red hair and eyes and his pale white skin...

"Jesus Christ, does Chase not let you go outside?" Aisha asked commenting on his paleness.

Jack laughed at this, "I just can't get any darker and I prefer the indoors anyway."

"Oh okay! Well he hasn't taken your soul yet has he?" Aisha half-joked.

"Hahaha! I'm a ginger! Supposedly I don't even have a soul!" Jack laughed.

"Chase, I like this kid," Aisha confirmed.

"That's lovely, Aisha. Now that the introductions are over, Jack, we have some business to attend to," Chase said dryly.

* * *

**Wow, exactly 2months... But Sweet baby jesus! Why am i so bad at updating quickly? I'm sorry guys, but this story will be with us for a WHILE since i'm so slow at updating. Well, i've finally decided to start throwing more of the XS characters back into the mix.**

**I hope you enjoyed! See you guys in like another 2-4 months! 3 **

**REVIEW PLEASE TO MOTIVATE ME AND LET ME KNOW YOU'RE ALL STILL READING THIS PLEASE!**


	16. Chapter 16

**5/7::: First, can we please talk about this:: {{put this next to youtube . com}} watch?v=1mT8oanBEOA [for some reason this site doesn't like url links to other sites] I really hope that it is just a test run like some people commented but omg... I can't handle Jack's new voice, Chase's voice... is good, but nothing beats his original voice, it had more..."slither" to it. And OMG! I cannot handle his hair! I like his old hair. Omi looked really good just in general, especially the 3D... I really hope they change Chase's 3D... his hair is bothersome...and it also makes it seem like his hair/head is too big for his body which seems to have slimmed down alot. **

**Also, Disney's making a movie about Malecifant in 2014! Ahhh! So excited!**

**Third:: Thank you Dire Heart and Acro111 for your reviews. And everyone else who checks in, thanks for reading!**

**Okay, on with the story!**

* * *

**The Past is Back**

**Chapter 16**

"Um...okay. What business do we have to discuss Chase?" Jack asked warily.

Chase gave his apprentice a sickly-sweet smile as he answered, "First, have a seat, Jack; relax."

"Uhhh, sure Chase." Jack followed his idol's request and slowly sat down in the chair nearest to him at the table. But just as the red-head relaxed into the chair, metal cuffs on the chair's arms shot out and fastened his wrists down and another metal cuff was around his neck, keeping his head up and against the back of the chair.

"Chase? What the hell are you doing?" Aisha shouted in concern over Jack's girly screech of fear.

The warlord ignored them both as he pressed a hand on Jack's head and shouted "Heylin Memory Recall!"

As a black essence surrounded them, both Chase and Jack fell silent for a few minutes. Once the black essence dissipated, Chase removed his hand from Jack's head. As the boy gasped back into consciousness, the constraints around him retracted back into the chair.

"Oh my God, Chase! What did you do to him?" Aisha asked as she went to Jack's aid despite the fact that he told her that he was fine.

"I only took a quick glance through his memories using the Heylin Memory Recall," Chase simply answered as though it were an everyday thing.

"You could've asked first, ya know," Jack stated as he straightened himself up. "What were you looking for anyway?"

"I was trying to see if you knew anything about today's incident."

"Incident? What happened?"

"Hannibal Bean, disguised as her real father, found and approached Kiara today at her school."

"Hannibal Bean? But how? I thought that he was dead!"

"That is exactly what I am trying to find out. Where is Wuya?"

The red-head shrugged. "I haven't seen her since that last Shen Gong Wu revealed itself," he answered. Then he looked over at Aisha and his eyes widened in realization. "Holy shit! That was you! You're the Shen Gong Wu!"

"Umm...not exactly, but yeah, okay..." Aisha replied.

"Well what does it do? How does it work?" The red-head asked with eagerness.

"It glows, gives me headaches, and when it's activated, it sucks whatever energy it can from the environment around me and converts it into power that I can use," Aisha answered.

"Oh that is too cool!"

"Yeah, it is, if it worked whenever I wanted it to. It'll just randomly activate itself when I really don't need it to and it doesn't respond when I call it by its name."

"Did you ever find out how it bonded to you?" Chase asked.

"Yeah, actually. Those few times that I took Kiara to the monks', I went through their library. They still had some records dating back from the original temple that you burned down and I came across Dashi's old journal. Turns out that my Bindi was one of the first Wu he created, which was when he was still a child. In his journal he talks about giving it as a gift to a monk, which matches with my father telling me that it was a gift from Dashi. But I was really little when I got it, ya' know, and you know how little kids are always putting things in their mouths, and I kinda ate it..."

"Well that is... quite a story..." Chase commented.

Jack, however, couldn't stop chuckling at her. But then he suddenly stopped. "Wait, so does that mean that people can bond with the Wu by eating them?"

"Apparently, Spicer... But don't get any ideas."

"Trust me, kid, you do not want to be bonded to a Shen Gong Wu for the rest of your life. It can really fuck with your body if you're not careful," Aisha warned.

Jack nodded in understanding, but the gears in his head were testing theories on permanent human-Shen Gong Wu bindings.

**- - - SOMETIME LATER - - -**

"Chase, come to bed," Aisha said one late night as she walked into the War Room.

"You go to bed, you sound tired. I will be fine," Chase replied seemingly mostly to himself. He didn't even bother to look up from his work as he responded to her.

"Of course I don't sound well! Look at me! I've been fighting off my cravings for the last couple of weeks!" Aisha replied with some agitation. Yes, for the last two weeks or so since Hannibal's appearance at Kiara's school in Manhattan, Chase had virtually disappeared in an effort to concentrate on finding his archnemesis and his accomplice, Wuya.

"And what does that have to do with me? Just have the servants bring you some blood or something," Chase waved.

"Oh great idea," Aisha replied sarcastically, "I wish I would've thought of that before I spent the last few centuries sleeping with a whole bunch of people!"

The warlord threw the papers he was holding onto the table. "Thank you, Aisha! I had almost completely forgotten about that!" He turned to her and he could see the toll that fighting her cravings did to her. She looked as though she was getting sick: her skin was paling, her face was starting to get a hollowed look, and her hair was losing its vitality. Had it really been so long since the last time he saw her?

"What do you need?" Chase asked.

"I need," Aisha started as she walked over to the chair he was sitting in and sat in his lap, "for you," she placed both of her hands on either side of his face and gently kissed his lips, "to come to bed," she finished with a smile.

Truth be told, Chase was really not in the mood to fool around with her tonight, the Hannibal situation was much more important at the moment. "I need to find Hannibal."

"Well I need _you_," she argued back.

"We need to be ready for Hannibal's next attack. We need to survive, Aisha."

"Chase, all I'm asking is for you to get out of this room and come to our bedroom with me so we can sleep together."

"By 'sleep together', do you mean the restorative sleep or sex?" Chase smirked.

His dragon-esque girlfriend narrowed her eyes at him. "No marriage, no sex," she said flatly as Chase frowned. "Now, come to bed, a little physical affection will do us both some good."

Chase sighed and with his magic, the pair disappeared from the War Room and into their bedroom. "So blood no longer works for you?"

Aisha shook her head, "No, so I've been primarily feeding off of others' energy, with some help from my Bindi."

"Like a succubus?"

"Hmm... yeah, kinda. The aim is usually for another person's life energy, but under the circumstances, I usually end up with their sexual energy which is still very sufficient for me. But now, just being around you is more than enough to keep me satiated."

Chase remained silent as they sat on the bed. He was wondering if her last statement had anything to do with the new heart she received a couple of months ago...

Noting the powerful man's silence, Aisha ran a hand through his hair and asked with concern "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he answered with a small smile. He could see that her color was returning; maybe there was some truth to her theory.

"Well, we should get to sleep, you're gonna need all the rest you can get; we're going to my mother's tomorrow."

"Who's going where and why?"

"You, me, and Kiara are going to visit my mom for Thanksgiving, its our family tradition."

"Ohh no, you know that your mother and I do_ not_ get along too well."

"Chase, it'll only be for a few days and you'll get to meet the rest of my family."

"For a few days? And we'll be there with the rest of your family? Dealing with just your mother every once in a while is enough for me."

"Well either you come or Kiara and I will just go without you."

"...So no matter which one I choose, I will not be happy?" Chase surmised.

Aisha nodded her head with a smile, "Exactly."

The warlord sighed in defeat as he stood up from the bed and started to change out of his armor. "Alright then, when do we need to be there?"

"At around 5 in the evening would be good. We'll be prepping for Thanksgiving dinner."

"She isn't even from America, why is she celebrating Thanksgiving?"

The young woman shrugged, "Mamma celebrates just about every holiday that she can."

"Are we going to have to visit her for Christmas?"

"Umm...maybe?" Aisha answered with an uneasy smile before Chase let out a disgusted groan. "Okay, okay! Let's just get through Thanksgiving and then we'll see about Christmas."

"How about we agree to skip Christmas now and then I will _think_ about spending New Year's with your family, at least that will only be a few hours out of a whole day."

"Yeah, umm... Mamma tries to celebrate as many New Years' as possible which include the one on the Julian calendar, but at least once on every continent in the day, and also the Hindu New Year, the Chinese New Year, and there are a couple of others too..."

The dread of having to deal with Aisha's mother was really weighing down on Chase's mood, and for the first time in the last weeks since Hannibal's appearance, the warlord finally felt his exhaustion. "Nevermind, I can no longer think about this," he sighed as he climbed into bed beside Aisha and laid down.

"I am going to try to sleep in tomorrow. Do you think you can handle making the arrangements for the trip?"

"Arrangements? What for?"

Chase yawned, "Well I haven't found Wuya or Hannibal yet and I would prefer that we weren't ambushed on our way to your mother's."

Aisha narrowed her eyes in annoyance, "I am so sick of those two... But don't worry Babe, I'll have everything ready to go... As long as I'm up before you."

"Hmm," was all that barely escaped from Chase's lips in response as he fell asleep.

His companion looked down at him and smiled, he was so cute when he slept! Aisha giggled at him before she bent down and placed a soft peck on his cheek before she buried herself under the bed's blankets and she fell asleep.

**- - -THE NEXT DAY- - -**

Chase awoke the next day to a peculiar taste in his mouth. It almost tasted like metal...

_"Odd."_ He groggily sat up in his bed and look over at the clock on the nightstand. "...1 a.m. ... I did _not_ mean for her to let me sleep in that late..."

He picked up a sheet of paper that was resting next to the clock; it was a note from Aisha:

_Hi Chase!_

_So if you haven't already noticed, I drugged you. Now don't get mad, I had to. In case you didn't know, you sleep walk... and sleep train... and sleep Tai-chi. You slept fine for a few hours, but then at like 3 in the morning, you got up and it took me over an hour to drag your sleeping butt back to bed._

_Now, I've left clothes out for you because there is no way in hell that you're wearing your damn armor to Thanksgiving weekend with my family and it snowed up there. And I have taken the liberty of also packing for you._

_It's now 5pm as I'm writing this, so depending on when you wake up, we'll probably have to leave right away. Its a long drive to Salem!_

The warlord groaned as he tossed the note to the side. He had slept for over 24 hours! He got up and looked at the clothes that Aisha left out for him: a heavy gray sweater, black pants, black boots, a black scarf, and a dark gray peacoat. He picked up the sweater and pants and headed to the attached bathroom.

A few minutes later, Aisha walked into the bedroom and let out a sigh of relief when she saw that Chase had woken up and she could hear the shower running. She kind of forgot that he was still knocked out when she last saw him a few hours ago and if they didn't leave soon, they would be running late. So Aisha sat down on the bed and waited for Chase to finish up in the bathroom.

About half an hour later, Chase emerged from the bathroom dressed in the gray sweater and black pants.

"Good morning, Honey!" Aisha greeted him with a large smile; Chase just glared at her as he moved around the room to put away his sleeping clothes and put on his boots. "Oh c'mon! Are you really that mad at me for drugging you?" Silence. "I'm sorry but you really did sleep walk! I don't think that's ever happened while I've been with you so maybe it's because you were awake for almost 2 weeks?" The annoyed warlord remained silent as he continued to get ready. "Ugghh! Whatever, but you won't stay silent for too long because I bet you have a ton of questions about today."

Chase paused; she was right, he did have a bunch of questions for her. Like why didn't she wake him up earlier? And why the hell were they driving to Salem when he could just use his powers to get them there? And what the hell clothes did she pack for him?

_'No, I will not let her win... I will just ask Kiara, yes, she will know what's going on,'_ he decided. "I'm going to go get Kiara. Be ready with everything by the entrance in five minutes."

Aisha nodded in understanding as she watched Chase grab his coat and scarf from the bed and head out of the door.

"Kiara, what the hell is going on?" Chase asked of his adopted daughter when he entered her bedroom.

The little girl zipped up her book bag and put it on her back before she answered. "We are going to take the portal back to our New York apartment and then you are driving us to Massachusetts. And its almost a five hour drive."

Chase sighed as he massaged his temples, "And _why_ do we have to drive there?"

"Abuelita's house and the land that she lives on is magically protected, so you can't just poof in or travel there by any magically means except for maybe a portal, but I don't think you'd want a portal to Abuelita's."

"You are absolutely right, I would literally kill myself if we had a portal directly to Isabella's house..."

"Oh Abidah! You are so funny!" Kiara giggled as she and Haidar walked past him and into the hallway.

"You think I'm joking?" Chase asked in response as he closed her bedroom door and the three of them walked towards their home's entrance.

* * *

**Ughhh a little over 3 months later but I did manage to update XD Again, I was side tracked by the next chapter which is actually kinda half-way done. Also while I was writing this, I had to go back and re-read the story (which I RARELY do)… good thing I did though because this chapter would've caused a shit ton of contradictions that I would never have gone back to fix. And then I almost completely forgot about the real-life time zone differences I was using…ugghh such a mess XD**

**Well hopefully I'll get the next chapter up before summer's over. See you guys next time!**


	17. Chapter 17

**7/30::: Okay, this was way faster than I expected... Only 13 days after the last update? OMG this must be the apocalypse! And this chapter is super long... It's def because of all of the new characters and dialogue though.**

**Thank you Dire Heart and woodlandfairykirk for your reviews! I love the feedback! 3 And to the guest reviewer: LMAO! I didn't even realize how whipped I made Chase seem, thank you for pointing that out for me XD But he just really loves his crazy girlfriend. And the link thing -_- i just checked and youtube took it down dammittt...uuufgghh that sucks. Umm I suggest try googling Xiaolin Chronicles til you can find clips or something? Their website is up though, so you can see _some_ of the new designs... I don't like them -_-**

**But anyway! On with the story! REVIEW PLEASE, DAMMIT! xoxoxoxo**

* * *

**The Past is Back**

**Chapter 17**

Sounds of screaming children and laughter could be heard as they approached the porch of house.

"Exactly how big is your family?" Chase wondered as Aisha rang the doorbell.

"You'll see," she smiled.

"Tia Aisha!" A little girl exclaimed as she opened the door for them. She had long straight black hair and was a little bit taller than Kiara. The eyes behind her glasses were the same bright lavender ones that Aisha and her mother shared.

"Hi Courtney!" Aisha greeted back and hugged the child. "You remember your cousin, Kiara."

Kiara smiled and waved at Courtney and the two girls hugged eachother.

"And this is Chase," Aisha continued and looped her arm through Chase's.

A smile slowly crept onto Courtney's face as she looked from Aisha to Chase. "Hello, Chase, it is very nice to meet you," she politely said despite her rather familiar-looking mischievous grin. "C'mon Kiara, I've got something I wanna show you." She grabbed Kiara's hand and pulled her into the house with Haidar following behind them.

"Why was she smiling like that?" Chase asked as he picked up their suitcases and allowed Aisha into the house before him.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about-"

"Aisha's here and she brought Chase!" Courtney exclaimed in the next room.

"Wow, I must really be a big deal," Chase smirked.

Aisha sighed and shook her head. "Shut up, you know you are..."

The pair moved to the room to the left of the front door after Courtney and Kiara.

"Hey hoes!" Aisha grinned at the people in the room.

"Jesus Christ Aisha," a dark-haired man sitting on an armchair to the left of the room sighed.

"God dammit, Aisha! Watch your language around the kids!" A very pregnant woman commented from her armchair on the right side of the room. The aforementioned man sighed again at the pregnant woman's own language.

"Oh please, they aren't paying us any attention," Aisha noted as Kiara and Courtney backtracked past her & Chase to the stairs that were across from the front door and three little boys darted around the room laughing and screaming. "But anyway, let's just get these introductions over with before Mamma shows up. Okay, family, this is Chase Young. And Chase, the pregnant woman over there is my sister Amaya," The pregnant, black haired woman smiled and waved. "She's married to Sergio," she pointed to the green-eyed man with glasses who was sighing earlier, "and they have 4 kids: Courtney, who answered the door for us, and the triplets: Dante, Sergio Jr., and Raul; the three boys who are running around the house."

"Over there on the couch are my sister, Mali and her boyfriend, Idan," Aisha continued. "And next to them is my brother Jaques who's twin sister, Chantelle, is missing. Where is she?"

"Bonjour, soeur!" a young woman exclaimed as she entered the room from behind Chase and Aisha, she was pale with blonde hair, just like Jaques, and had the same trademark bright lavendar eyes just like the rest of Aisha's siblings.

"Oh! And this is Chantelle; Chantelle, this is-"

"Chase Young, oui, je sais. I heard you from the kitchen," Chantelle finished with a strong French accent. "Aisha, tu peux hold these for me?"

"Nope, Chantelle, I don't think that's a good idea," Aisha replied knowingly as her sister shoved three baby bottles into her hands.

"Bonjour, Chase! Welcome to the family!" Chantelle greeted the warlord as she hugged him and kissed him on each cheek.

Everyone else in the room cringed as they watched Chase tense up from the sudden personal physical contact, unsure of how the Heylin would respond.

Chase was silent for a moment, in shock from Chantelle's actions but then relaxed and gave her a warm half-smile. "Thank you."

The rest of the room exhaled in relief.

"Chantelle, what's in those bottles?" Amaya asked.

"Mamma m'a dit to give them to the boys, she's worried that they might break something," Chantelle replied.

Amaya let out a frustrated sigh, "She knows how I feel about giving them her stupid elixir, last year they slept for 2 days straight!" She started to get up from her seat but Aisha, Chantelle, and Sergio moved to keep her seated.

"You shouldn't make such sudden movements," Sergio said.

"Just calm down, soeur, most of it is water," Chantelle whispered.

"Boys! Come say 'hello' to your Tia Aisha!" Sergio called out. Within a few seconds, the giggling boys bounced, rolled, and sprinted their way back into the living room and over to their father.

"Hi boys!" Aisha smiled as she squatted down to their level.

"Hola, Tia Aisha!" the three green-eyed boys said in as much unison as three-year-olds could.

"Papa, quien es?" one of the identical triplets asked looking over at Chase.

"That is Mr. Chase, can you guys say hello to him, too?" Sergio replied.

"Hola, Senior Chase!"

"Hello, boys," he replied with a smile. The eyes on the boy in the middle widened.

"Dientes afilados! Dientes afilados!" he exclaimed and pointed at Chase and then at his own teeth.

"Yes, he has sharp teeth just like you do," Sergio translated for him.

"Awas! Botellas!" the boy to the on the right shouted, pointing at the bottles in Aisha's hands.

"Oh right, here you go," she said as she passed out the bottles to the triplets. They each eagerly drank down his bottle.

"Aisha! You made it!" Isabella exclaimed as she hugged her eldest daughter. She moved over to Chase and also hugged him. "Good, now go put your things up in your room. Now that everyone's here, we can start prepping for tomorrow's dinner!"

"All I care about is what we're eating tonight..." Mali commented a bit too loudly as Isabella threw the dish towel that she held at her in annoyance.

"What about Tio Elisio and Tia Almira?" Aisha asked.

"They're coming tomorrow with the ham and paella," Isabella answered. "Now go hurry! We have so much to do!"

"Yes, Mamma," Aisha sighed and she and Chase headed towards the stairs.

"How many rooms does this place have?" Chase asked when they were in the second floor hallway.

"There's six bedrooms that were for me and my siblings, and Mamma, and then two guest rooms, and this floor also has 4 bathrooms. Downstairs is the living room where we just were, the dining room, the kitchen, a small study, and another bathroom. Then there's a third floor which is just one giant room where Mamma keeps her witch stuff and the basement is just an alcohol storage space and extra closets. Oh and then there's a small guest house about a five minute walk from here and the barn."

"A barn?"

"Yeah, she has some horses and chickens and stuff."

"And your mother lives here by herself?"

"Not all of the time, she has houses all over the world, this is just the main house and where she'll mostly hold family events. But Mali and Idan are in America alot so they'll be here most of the time. And then there are the farmhands and Mamma's assistant who stop by."

Aisha turned the knob on a door that was the third one on the left from the stairs and entered her room. The walls were a dusty lavender color with a black border; the queen-sized bedspread was black and purple and a white canopy hung from the four posts on the bed.

"Umm I think the dresser and closet are empty from my last move, so we can put our stuff in there later," Aisha said mostly to herself and went to dresser on the right wall of the room to check. Chase put their luggage down next to the bed and started to take off his coat.

Aisha then walked over to him, wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up at him, resting her chin on his chest.

"So, what do you think?" she asked of him as he placed his hands on the base of her back.

"Of your family? They are... nice."

"Really? 'Nice'? That's the description you can come up with for them?"

Chase shrugged, "They definitely know who I am so I would not expect them to visibly make it known that they don't like me. And you have a rather large family... You know that I am not used to that kind of thing. I expect this visit to be quite... lively...and loud... and possibly full of awkward silences..."

"Hahaha! No! It'll be fine and I'm pretty sure that they'll like you. I mean they're kinda gonna have to since we're destined to be together anyway."

"I'm not actually concerned with whether or not they like me, I really don't care; I was just telling you my observations and predictions," Chase replied flatly.

"I'm so glad that you are so honest with me," Aisha replied sarcastically.

"You are very welcome," Chase smirked and then kissed her lips.

"Just please avoid any political, world domination talk around them though. They're mostly unaffiliated, except for Mali & Idan, they dabble in evil from time to time."

"Aisha, when have you ever heard me talk about world domination?"

"Well I know it's something that is always on your mind, but last night you were talking in your sleep about which nations you'd attack first. I think that the sleep talking had to do with you staying up for more than a week, just like with your sleep walking."

"I do not sleepwalk," the warlord sighed as he released her and walked towards the door.

"Sleepwalkers don't know that they sleepwalk until someone tells them that they do," Aisha explained as she dug through the pockets of her coat. "Oh and can you take my coat downstairs with you? There'll be a closet to the left of the stairs."

"And where will you be?"

There was a pause as she suddenly became pre-occupied with her phone. "Umm... I have to pee," she answered and quickly took off her coat. She handed it to Chase and then nearly ran past him towards the bathroom, all the while staring at her phone with deep concern.

Chase just shrugged it off and went to join her family downstairs. He found the closet Aisha told him about and hung up her coat first; when he went to hang up his own coat, he was stopped.

"Nope, I'd hold on to that if I were you, mate," a male voice called out to him. Chase turned around to see that it was Idan who was speaking to him with a very clear Australian accent. His icy blue eyes almost fooled him, but Chase was able to notice that his scent meant that he was of dragon blood. He could also see how Aisha's sister took such a liking to him; he had almost as many piercings as Mali and they both had a rebellious air about them. "Isa's sent us out to go get more wood for the fireplaces."

"And to catch the damn turkey," Sergio added with his own Spanish accent as he put on his coat.

"You have got to be kidding me." Chase's voice had absolutely no life or emotion to it.

The other two men shook their heads.

"It is Mamma's tradition," Jacques explained in his French accent as he descended the stairs towards them with three bows and three quivers in his hands; his own bow and quiver were already positioned on his back. Jacques looked just like his twin Chantelle, but the male version. He actually reminded Chase of Jack Spicer... if Spicer had platinum blonde hair, purple eyes, and carried himself with a sense of pride and competence.

"And are these also part of the tradition?" Chase asked as he took a bow & quiver.

"But of course! She says that bullets taint the taste of the turkey," Jacques answered. "For a while she had us try to catch it without any weapons just for shits & giggles."

"But it won't be too bad, there's only one turkey on her land that she's been fattening up these last few weeks so it can barely run. Plus we have the hounds."

"Hounds? Aisha never said anything about hounds."

"Oh, well that's odd. But we have 10 hell hounds that guard the land. Considering that you are evil, they shouldn't be a problem for you."

"Why does she even have them?"

"Mamma isn't the only person who lives out here. There are plenty of other...supernaturals occupying these woods just as Mamma is," Jacques answered.

"Oh bon, you guys didn't leave yet," Chantelle sighed in relief as she emerged from the kitchen wearing a pink frilly apron over her light blue sweater dress. "Amaya wants you guys to take the boys with you."

"She wants us to take the boys with us hunting? Is she crazy?"

"Well we can't have the boys running around here unattended, we'll all be in the kitchen cooking so no one can watch them."

"And you think that we'll be able to?" Sergio asked.

"Have the hounds watch them or something."

"Oh yes, because the hell hounds are pretty good babysitters..." Sergio replied sarcastically.

"Je ne sais pas! They just want them out of the house," Chantelle said as she threw her hands up in defense & walked back into the kitchen.

Sergio sighed as he & Idan got the triplets into their coats. "Okay, now we can go."

"I say we start with the firewood, the farmhands left a pile for us over by the barn. Then we can go for the turkey," Jacques said once the group made it out to the backyard. The land all around the house was coated in a few inches of fresh, crunchy, white snow that practically glowed on the ground from the porch & moon lights. While Idan placed two fingers to his mouth and blew a long, high-pitched whistle, Jacques pulled a large, flat wooden sled from the side of the house.

A few seconds later, a group of Dobermans approached the group, sniffing at each of them. But when they got to Chase, they immediately sat down by him, paying all of their attention to him.

"They respect you," Idan explained as he rubbed one of the dog's heads in affection. Essentially, Isabella's hell hounds looked just like any other Doberman, however they had to curled horns sprouting on their heads between their ears and instead of one tail, they had two thin, wiry tails that waved and wagged independently from each other.

"Ich, Ni, San, Shi! Go watch over the boys," Sergio commanded of the hounds as he pointed to his three sons who were playing in the snow. Four of the dogs obediently got up and walked over to the children and began to interact with them.

"Quatre vingt douze, Sanq, et Huit! Venez tous ici!" Jacques called and another three went over to him and he began to harness them to the sled.

"For some reason they numbered the dogs...non-numerically...and in different languages..." Sergio explained when he saw Chase's slightly quizzical look.

"Yes, my family is a bit...strange," Jacques added with a small smile.

"A _bit_ strange?" The other three men asked in unison with unamused faces.

The French man put his hands up in defense, "Alright, alright! Those women son très fou! But they are still my family, and you guys are the ones dating my crazy sisters so when you think about it, you're really just as crazy as us."

Chase, Idan, and Sergio remained silent as they mulled over what Jacques said... He was right; they had to be crazy to willingly want to be in relationships with his sisters. What had they truly gotten themselves into?

After a few moments, Jacques passed out flashlights that he brought with him from the house and the four men made their trek across the dark, snowy field to the barn. Once the sled was loaded with enough firewood to last the house a few days, Jacques sent the dogs pulling the sled back to the house to wait for them to arrive with the turkey. The remaining hounds that weren't given a task had been sniffing around the barn, trying to detect the turkey's scent. A couple of them ran off into the dark woods while one hung back, waiting for his master to be ready to follow him after the rest of his pack.

"Okay boy, let's go," Jacques said as he, Idan, and Sergio pulled an arrow from their quivers and set it in their bows. Chase just watched them with his arms folded across his chest finding the "tradition" unnecessary but slightly amusing.

The men followed the dog further into the unlit forest, their flashlights now turned off as to avoid scaring their prey off. Thanks to their lineage, the four men had no problems seeing in the dark; Chase was just Chase and do basically anything and the other three men were all at least half dragon. They stopped after travelling for about 5 minutes when their dog stopped. The other two hounds were lying in wait in the shadows a few feet away on either side of the now visible turkey.

"That's the turkey?" Chase asked with some disbelief. "What the fuck did she feed it?"

"Lord only knows..."Idan answered. Their turkey was incredibly fat and nearly as big as a horse.

"Do you even have a plan to catch it?"

"Yeah," Sergio responded and walked over to the large bird. The startled fowl started to screech and gobble and tried to run away, but tripped on its own stick feet and rolled onto the ground into the snow. "Oh shut up," Sergio muttered and then took the bird's head in his hands and gave it a quick twist, snapping its neck.

Jacques sighed and shook his head, "Sergio never did enjoy our traditions..."

The Spanish man took his arrow and shoved into the side of the giant bird. "So who wants to carry it back?"

"I will take care of it," Chase answered with a smirk. The other men smiled back at him, he was going to pull a serious trick on the women back at the house.

"Hold on," Idan said as he took his own arrow and shoved it into the bird. Jacques followed suit. "It's for show," Idan explained. The warlord nodded and stabbed the turkey with one of his arrows. He placed a hand on the bird and a black essence formed around it, then he snapped his fingers and the bird disappeared.

"We are going to be in for an earful when we get back," Jacques laughed.

"Not bad for an evil warlord, eh?" Idan smiled and patted Chase's shoulder as the group made their way back to the house.

The men could just spot the porch lights of the house when they heard the shrill screeches and screams of the women who were working on their dinner. Now a few feet from the porch, the group laughed as they relished in their success at pranking the women. But those manly laughs quickly quieted down as they got closer and a frying pan broke one of the windows as it came flying out of the house, just barely missing Sergio's head.

"GOD DAMMIT! I'M FUCKING PREGNANT, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES!" Amaya shouted. "THE FOUR OF YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT EATING TONIGHT!"

"Shit!" Sergio cursed under his breath and face palmed himself; how could he have forgotten. "Exactly what did you do?"

"I had the bird re-animate itself for a couple of minutes once it got into the kitchen."

"Hey! What's going on down there?" Courtney shouted down from an open third floor window. Kiara popped up next to her and so did a slow moving stream of purple smoke.

"Is that smoke?" Sergio asked.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Chase demanded. The two girls turned back to look at the room behind them and screamed before disappearing from the smoke-spewing window.

"Girls?" Sergio called before he and the rest of the men ran into the house.

"Was that Courtney? What the hell is going on?" Amaya asked from the kitchen window, but no one was there to answer. "Ahh! Someone grab the boys! They're still outside!"

"What?" Chantelle asked and looked out of the window. "OH! Boys! Boys! Come inside!" The blonde French woman called to her young nephews. The boys stopped what they were doing and looked over at her before smiling and making their way towards the house. Chantelle left the window and went to go open the porch door back to the living room for them. "Now where did your Papa go?"

Chase and Sergio opened the door to the room on the third floor to find it filled with purple smoke.

"Courtney!"

"Kiara!" Each man coughed out his daughter's name.

"Abidah?"

"Papa!" The girls called out when they found their respective fathers. The girls were scooped up by their fathers and quickly carried out of the room and downstairs while Idan and Jacques swiftly closed the door behind them.

"What were you two doing up there?" Chase asked as he set Kiara down on her feet.

The young girl pulled off her gas mask, "We were testing a different version of the potion that Abuelita used on the turkey."

"We wanted to see how the new version would work on plants," Courtney added as she removed her gas mask.

"See?" Kiara asked showing Chase her gas mask. "We would've been fine."

Sergio just sighed and shook his head while Chase gave Kiara a very unpleased look.

"Shit! We forgot about the boys!" Jacques realized when he saw his nephews running around the living room.

"Don't worry, I let them in," Chantelle said. "But seriously guys, your little prank was not funny at all."

"You're right, Chantelle, one of you could've gotten hurt," Jacques apologized.

"What? No we would've been fine. Well except for maybe Amaya. The scare could've sent her into labor. But we almost blow up the damn thing when it hopped up from the table! Mamma would've been furious to find turkey guts everywhere…"

"Chantelle! Would you get back in here and help us! This is no time for a break!" Isabella called from the kitchen.

"Oui, Mamma!" Chantelle called back.

"Wait, Isa doesn't know about our little prank?" Idan whispered.

"No, you lucky imbeciles! She was in the bathroom when the turkey came back to life," she answered with a fierce glare at the men before returning to the kitchen.

"Looks like we've escaped death today, boys" Jacques grinned.

"Abidah, what is he talking about?" Kiara asked.

"Don't worry about it, Ae Cha," Chase replied. "Now the two of you, no more unsupervised potion making." The two girls nodded in compliance.

"You two can stay here and be fatherly," Idan smiled. "Me and Jacques will unload the firewood." The two men then left for the backyard for a second time.

"And before you girls run off, could you help the boys get their coats off," Sergio asked of the two girls as he went to hang up his and Chase's coats in the closet. The girls obliged to Sergio's request and when they were done, they ran off back upstairs.

"Kids," Sergio sighed as he walked over to a glass cabinet in the living room. Chase fell into a nearby armchair with an annoyed groan.

The other man pulled out an oddly shaped bottle and two stout glasses and set them on top of the cabinet. "Scotch?" He asked.

"Anything," the warlord replied.

Sergio chuckled as he poured a glass for himself and one for Chase. "I hope you don't mind the blood. This is one of Isa's _many_ bottles that she's...enhanced just for the family; it gives it an extra kick. Her wineries and breweries actually do quite well for our kind." The Spaniard handed Chase his glass and then went to sit on the couch across from the warlord with his own drink.

"...Now that I think of it, this trip would have been much more bearable had I started drinking yesterday," Chase realized after he finished his drink.

Sergio smirked, "You're right. But for now, we'll probably have to go through at least another 6 bottles before we're even a bit buzzed for dinner."'

"That is perfectly alright with me," Chase said and raised his glass.

* * *

**LMAO! OMG Aisha's family! I love them! Sadly however, I think I may have accidentally channeled the Kardashians [[kill me now -_-']] I am so sorry guys...**

**OKay, soo don't expect another chapter for a while guys XD I have actually NOT started the next one while I wrote this one. **

**See you in a few months! xoxoxoxo**


	18. Chapter 18

**Yikes! One month later... Oh well! I'm back and this was almost 10 pages on word, so I think the wait was worth it! Enjoy! Review please!**

**Also, thanks SimonCatGirl for the review: Sorry to you and everyone else for the Kardashian influence, I am ashamed...**

* * *

**The Past is Back**

**Chapter 18**

Idan and Jacques came in from finishing up their work with the firewood and joined Chase and Sergio for drinks as they awaited their dinner. About three bottles of hard liquor and jokes later, the group was interrupted when the doorbell rang.

Sergio looked down at his watch, it was almost 8 o'clock. "Were you guys expecting someone else for dinner?" he asked Jacques.

The blonde French man shook his head, "Not that I know of. My aunt and uncle won't be here til tomorrow..."

The men looked at each other and then at the door; they were literally out in the middle of nowhere and the house was very well hidden with magic, only those invited would know how to get there. Something was not right about this...

Jacques got up and went to answer the door. The other three men set their glasses down and got themselves ready to move into action if they needed to.

"May I help you?" Jacques asked the stranger as he opened the door. And strange he was, the young man standing in front of him had pale white skin with red hair and matching red eyes.

"Hi! Is there a Chase Young and Aisha Katar here?"

Chase's elfish ears perked up when he heard the familiar voice. "Spicer?" He asked with disbelief as he walked over to the door. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Aisha invited me since my parents are gonna be away this Thanksgiving," Jack explained as he walked into the house with his duffle bag.

"You know him?" Jacques asked.

"Yes, he is my apprentice," the warlord answered as he folded his arms across his chest. "And as my apprentice, you should have told me that you were going to be here on holiday with us."

"Sorry C.Y. But I thought that Aisha had cleared it with you first before she had even asked me to come," the red head said.

"Never assume such things when it comes to her..." Chase sighed and went back to the living room to pour himself another glass of Scotch.

"Well then, welcome to the Castillo residence," Jacques smiled at the red head, "Mr. …?"

"Oh! I'm Jack. Jack Spicer," Chase's apprentice replied and shook the French man's hand.

"Well hello Jack, I'm Aisha's brother, Jacques. Hopefully that won't get too confusing for everyone the next couple of days. Over there with the glasses is my brother-in-law, Sergio, and the man next to him with the piercings is Idan, he's dating my sister Mali… Actually, it'd be best if we did all of the introductions later, it will be easier when everyone is in the same room."

"Cool, so where should I put my stuff?"

"I'll show you to your room," Jacques said and the two men ascended the stairs.

"Apprentice, eh?" Idan chuckled. "I thought you stopped that centuries ago."

"I did," Chase started, "but then these last few years I've picked it up again… much to my regret. But he has been my most promising apprentice so far."

"What about Kiara?" Sergio asked.

"Kiara is my daughter, there is a difference. I do not expect her to follow my path."

"She doesn't know?"

"I have tried my best to keep her from knowing about my affiliation to evil, but it has been fifteen hundred years and she is a very bright girl. She probably knows something, but would rather have things continue as they are," Chase explained. Upon meeting them, Chase assumed that Sergio and Idan knew of his and Aisha's situation. They were Aisha's family after all; they understood the chaos that was their lives.

"Guys, can you set the table and get the kids ready? Dinner's almost finished," Mali said as she popped her head in the swinging door to the kitchen.

"Yeah," Idan said as he and the other two men got up. He and Chase headed to the dining room to set the table while Sergio stood at the bottom of the stairs and called whoever was up there down for dinner. He then caught each of his three sons and helped them wash up before they ate.

Mali entered the dining room from a door at the back of the room, which connected the dining room to the kitchen, carrying two large baskets of rolls.

"I see you must have won your fight with the dough," Idan joked at his girlfriend. Her tanned face and the black apron she wore to protect her black turtleneck and burgundy mini skirt were covered in flour.

Mali just glared at him as she placed the two baskets of bread on either side of the large table covered in a gold tablecloth. "Your stupid prank wasn't fucking funny!" She punched her laughing boyfriend. "Your damn zombie bird knocked over a bowl of flour and I slipped and fell into it on the floor…"

This made the Australian man laugh even harder.

"I hope you suffocate and die from all of your laughing you fucking asshole!" Mali growled as she turned to leave.

"You should calm down, Babe," Idan managed through his laughs, "your tail is showing!"

Mail stopped and looked behind her, indeed a black, scaly, reptilian tail sprouted from her backside. She let out a legitimate draconic growl at Idan and bared her fangs at him before she returned to the kitchen.

"Crikey! Is she great or what?" Idan exclaimed as he went back to helping Chase set the table.

Chase actually was not sure how to respond his question. Was this man serious? "Well…she is quite… dangerous. Especially since she almost changed into a dragon over a little prank…"

Idan laughed, "Nah, that's just because she's only about 600 years old. She just needs to go through some more anger management courses. But she definitely isn't the most dangerous of 'em."

"Yeah, Amaya takes the cake," Sergio said as he walked into the dining room with his three sons following close behind him. "And God forbid she's pissed off when she's pregnant! She threw a table at me once while she was pregnant with the triplets."

"Yes, Amaya definitely is the most dangerous of my sisters." Jacques walked in with Jack and his nieces from upstairs. "Sure, Mail will most likely morph into a dragon and attempt to burn down everything in her path, but Amaya will try to kill you while she's still human… And like it…"

"What did you say about me?" Amaya asked as she waddled into the dining room.

"Just that you enjoy killing people when you're mad," Sergio answered as he started to put his sons in the highchairs at the table.

"Ohh… yep, I guess I do," the pregnant woman smiled as she took her seat between the first high chair and the seat at the head of the table.

"Mamma, what's for dinner?" Courtney asked as she took her seat across the table from her, Kiara sat next to her.

"Watch out everyone! Hot chili coming through!" Aisha announced as she and Chantelle entered from the kitchen. They were both carrying a tray with several bowls of steaming chili and rice. Isabella was right behind them with a large serving bowl of extra chili and Mali was behind her with a large serving bowl of extra rice.

"Oh Jack! You made it!" Aisha smiled at the red head as she and Chantelle began to place their bowls at each seat. When the blonde woman looked up to see who her sister was speaking to, she froze as soon as her lavender eyes met the new guest's red ones.

"Chantelle!" her sisters shouted at her; her tray of food was tipping from her hands while she was frozen by Jack's gaze.

"Merde! Je suis désolée!" The blonde exclaimed with a blush when she was awoken from her momentary trance and quickly finished her task before nearly running back to the kitchen mumbling something about getting the milk because the chili was spicy.

Everyone looked at Jack, then at the door to the kitchen, and then at each other; each baffled by what just happened.

"Who was that?" Jack asked once Chantelle left.

Aisha looked to her family members and they all smirked before she answered, "_That_ is my sister, Chantelle… And she's _single_."

"Really?" Jack breathed to himself with a smile as everyone went to sit down.

Isabella took her seat at the head of the table between Courtney and Amaya. The triplets' highchairs were between Amaya and Sergio, then Idan next to him and Mali next to Idan. Across from Mali was Jacques, then an empty seat for Chantelle, Jack next to Chase, Aisha next to him and the Kiara in between Aisha and Courtney.

Once Chantelle returned with two pitchers of milk, the large group began to eat and Aisha introduced Jack to everyone.

"Aisha! What the hell is with your family?! Everyone's frickin' gorgeous!" Jack exclaimed when the introductions were finished. "Even your brother and brother-in-laws are supermodel status!"

"Well, Mamma's always had a good taste in men," Mali smiled. "And we must have inherited her ability to pick 'em."

"I'm sorry, but _men_?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, we each have different fathers, well except for the twins; they have the same dad of course," Mali answered. That explained it. Despite all of Isabella's children sharing her lavender eyes, they all looked different from each other but still beautiful in their own right. Jack turned to his right and caught a glimpse of Chantelle. He found her to be the most beautiful one of the family, with her golden hair and pale skin that still had a bit of pink to it because she could sense him staring at her.

Chase noticed this also and gave Jack a swift jab to his ribs with his powerful elbow to get him to stop staring.

"Ow!" Jack exclaimed as he rubbed his sore ribcage. Aisha and Sergio looked over at him to see what happened. "I mean because this chili is so spicy! Wow! I'm just now feeling the burn!" The red head took a large gulp of his milk to support his story and everyone else just shrugged it off.

The rest of the meal went along pretty well. The group attempted to figure out which triplet was who, they discussed the snowy weather, and Kiara and Courtney were telling Amaya and Isa about their experiment. Well for the most part everything was going well, except for the fact that Chase couldn't shake the idea that Aisha was giving him the cold shoulder. So after dinner while everyone else was cleaning up, he pulled her aside.

"May I speak with you?"

"…I guess," Aisha replied after a pause.

The warlord's face quickly changed from shock to border lining rage. "_Upstairs_," he commanded in a stern whisper. Neither of them wanted to attract the attention of the rest of her family, so Aisha complied and walked up to her room with Chase.

"Now why are you mad at me?" Chase asked when he closed the bedroom door behind him.

"When we got here, I found out that I had about 100 missed calls and messages from Ilario dating from when you came back from your 3 week trip to Russia. And I find that to be really weird because I've been getting everyone else's calls while we've been in the palace, except for all of Ilario's," Aisha explained with her arms folded across her chest.

"Hm, weird," Chase commented with very little interest.

"So, I called him back earlier. And do you know what he told me? He told me that you sent two of your warriors to his apartment and threatened him that if he ever saw or made contact with me again, you would take the time out of your day to visit him, just so you could slice him open, and force feed him his own intestines."

"Clearly the boy does not mind the idea of ingesting his own innards. It seems as though I must have a word with him," the Heylin replied with annoyance.

"What? No! Chase, would you stop being so God damn possessive!" she shouted with frustration. "I know that you don't know him, but you can trust me! I would _never_ betray you!"

She looked him straight in his eyes and had to silence her surprised gasp. His amber gaze no longer felt warm, it was now sharp and cold with a distinct evilness about it.

"You would _never_ betray me?" he hissed as he began to circle her just as a predator circles is soon-to-be-captured prey.

_'Nope! I _do not_ like this! What the fuck did I do wrong this time? What does he have on me?'_ She panicked in her mind. "Yes! I would never betray you!"

He stopped his circling right behind her and leaned over her shoulder. "Are you _positive_?" He whispered into her ear. His left arm wrapped around her with a small stack of photographs in his hand.

"What are these?" Aisha asked cautiously.

"Why don't you find out?" Chase replied and Aisha took the photos from his hand.

She furrowed her eyebrows at the first picture. "Is that Ilario?" Yes, it was definitely him in his living room and it seemed as though it was taken from outside one of the windows of his apartment. _'How did he take this-? Wait, that's a stupid question… He's Chase…'_

"Is that…Is that me?" Aisha asked with some disbelief at the next photo; it looked like they were talking. _'When the hell was this?'_

She froze at the next picture; she was lip locked with Ilario.

"Keep going," Chase urged harshly. Aisha swallowed and moved on to the next picture. Ilario was gone and was she starting to undress herself?

Ilario was now back with… some man that she didn't recognize. However in the next photo she was kissing the stranger while Ilario was occupied with the back of her bra. The following photographs showed the trio walking over to the couch with Ilario sitting down on it first.

Aisha froze again, tears streaming down her face as she had a bad feeling about what the rest of the pictures would show. She didn't want to see what they had done. She already didn't even remember that night happening so she didn't want any new memories of it. And then, to top it all off, she couldn't even defend herself against Chase. She had betrayed him; not consciously, but that was her about to have a threesome with two other men. The evidence was piled against her.

"Does that not look like betrayal to you?"

Aisha paused as she held back a sudden urge to cry. "… Y-yes…but I don't even remember this happening… When were these taken?"

"The night of the second Tuesday that I was gone. But that does not matter. The problem is that you were committed to _me_ and you went and _fucked_ two other men!"

She shuddered at the harshness of his words and the shame she felt for letting something like that happen. She quickly skipped a few pictures ahead in the pile and stopped. Taken right in the middle of the threesome, it showed Aisha and Ilario directly facing the camera, fangs bared, and bright eyes devoid of their pupils.

"…I blacked out…" she muttered to herself in realization.

"What?" Chase asked.

"I-I must have blacked out that night…That's why I can't remember it happening…" Aisha explained. "See? Mine and Rio's eyes? Our pupils are gone…"

The warlord looked at the photo and noticed what she was talking about. And then he remembered a couple of times, 1500 years in the past, when she did go on a bloodlust rampage… Maybe it had happened again…

"It is a possibility, but it's no excuse."

"I know…" Aisha responded quietly. "And I am _so_ sorry that I let that happen. You were gone and my cravings must have gotten so bad that I- that I slipped up…"

Chase gripped her chin and forced her to look up at him; his eyes still held that cold sharpness that he only reserved for his enemies. "You tell that rampaging, lustful bitch of a whore inside of you to control herself," he told her in a low threatening voice. "You are _mine_ and _mine alone_. Got it?" Aisha fiercely nodded, now fearing for her life. "The next time you get your fucking cravings, you come to _me_. Understood?" The frightened woman nodded again as a sob escaped from her lips. "Good. Now go clean yourself up so we can have dessert with your family."

He released her and Aisha quickly exited the room for the bathroom. As soon as she left, Chase started pacing around the room. He wanted to break something, or strangle something, or…

**_'Or _****KILL_ something.'_**

The warlord was stressed the fuck out and couldn't allow himself to lose it at Aisha's mother's house, so he warlord sat himself down on the bedroom floor and began to meditate. Had it really been that long since he last took the time out of his day to meditate? When was the last time he drank his soup?

After these thoughts passed through his mind a few minutes later, he fell into the peace that his meditating always brought him; the discard photos of betrayal on the floor were each consumed in a black flame that dissipated into nothing. Once he felt that he had regained his composure, Chase made his way downstairs.

The group had relocated to the living room, each starting to eat their personal plates of cookies and while watching Idan as he tried to light the fireplace.

Chase spotted Aisha sitting on the floor in front of an empty armchair. She gave him a small smile as she handed him a mug of hot chocolate piled with little marshmallows. After he took his seat behind her on the chair, he tilted her head up towards him and reached his face forward to gently kiss her lips. When they broke apart, she smiled in relief; he had forgiven her, or at least was going to get past their latest issue. Chase smirked back at her and took a chocolate chip cookie from her plate and proceeded to munch on it as he sat back in the armchair.

"Idzi, just give up already!" Mali said as she watched her boyfriend of the last couple of centuries attempt to light the fireplace using sticks. "You're a dragon for God's sake, just blow on the damn thing," she added before taking a swig of white wine from her glass.

"Oye, woman! Just mind your damn wine!" Idan replied.

"How much have you had to drink, Mali?" Amaya asked from her seat on a couch next to Chase.

Isabella, who had Kiara seated in her lap, looked up from brushing her granddaughter's hair. "You drank the cooking wine again didn't you? How many times have I told you about that?"

"Oh _Mamma_! Esta bien!" Mali waved at her.

"Wait, if Mali drank the cooking wine, then what are tomorrow's vegetables soaking in?" Aisha wondered.

Idan gave up and blew his own draconic flames to light the fireplace before he joined his slightly drunk girlfriend on the couch opposite Chase and Aisha. "Probably whatever she brought with us. She's been drinking since last night."

"Do you put alcohol in everything?" Chase asked in slight bewilderment.

"There's some Bailey's in everyone's hot chocolate," Aisha commented.

"Just about, yes," Isabella answered. "But not to be _drunk_! It's calming, and my alcohols make sure we get the nutrients we need. And we use the purest alcohols in food to enhance the flavor."

"You make your own alcohols?" Jack asked with curiosity.

"Yes, Mamma started some wineries and breweries almost a thousand years ago, right Mamma?" Chantelle answered; her mother nodded. "You should try some," the blonde woman smiled at Jack and stood up from her seat next to him to pour him a glass of wine.

"Chantelle, don't give him too much, he's human," Aisha warned.

"He'll be fine!" she replied.

"Thanks," Jack said as he took a sip from the glass that Chantelle handed him. "Wow! This stuff is amazing!"

"Thank you," Isabella smiled at the human boy. The matriarch looked to a nearby window at the blizzard that was beginning outside and sighed. "Well, I guess I will be heading to bed. Vamos nietas," she commented as Kiara slid from her lap and she stood up.

"Come, Shakespeare," Courtney called towards the kitchen; a few seconds later, a grey cat with a small gold bell around its neck came into the room and jumped into Courtney's arms.

"Oh, I gotta check on the boys so I'm right behind you guys," Amaya said as she tried to stand up from the couch. "Well, almost."

Her husband was right by her side and easily helped her pregnant form up. "Goodnight, everyone." Sergio said as he, his wife, Courtney, Kiara, and Haidar followed Isabella up the stairs.  
"Goodnight," the rest of the group said.

Over the course of the next hour, the group left in the living room grew even smaller. Chantelle was the next to go to bed; followed by Jack. And after singing herself into a drunken slumber, Mali was carried by Idan upstairs, leaving Chase and Aisha, who were now cuddled up on a couch, alone to watch the flames in the fireplace and listen to the howling wind of the blizzard outside.

The pair was just about to doze off to sleep, but a loud crash from the kitchen jolted them wide awake.

"What the hell was that?!" Aisha nearly shouted and she turned to Chase.

Chase hushed her as he listened to someone run down the stairs and in the next instant, Chantelle ran past them and towards the kitchen.

Chase and Aisha followed her to the next room to find Jack on the floor surrounded by toppled pots and pans.

"Shit that hurt!" the red head winced as he rubbed the back of his head.

"OH! Je suis désolée! I'll get you some ice," the blonde woman said as she ran over to one of the two refrigerators.

"Jack, what the hell is going on?" Chase demanded of his apprentice.

Jack was silent as he slowly tried to make himself comfortable in a sitting position on the floor, he didn't want to try to stand up yet. "Well, I was in Chantelle's room and we were just … foolin' around and stuff, when suddenly, I fell through the bed, and then the floor and then landed onto the stove and then rolled onto the floor."

"What do you mean that you 'fell through the bed'?" Aisha asked.

"It was like one second he was there, and then the next, he was sinking into the bed til he was gone and fell into the kitchen," Chantelle explained.

"Is that something that your house just does?" Chase asked; the sisters shook their heads. The warlord then turned to his apprentice, "Did you bring any Shen Gong Wu with you?"

"Well, kinda…yeah," Jack answered with a nervous chuckle.

Aisha and Chase narrowed their eyes at him. "What does 'kinda' mean? You either have something or not," Aisha commented.

"Well I have one in my stomach… Or maybe it's in my intestines now. I'm not positive about my body's metabolic speed…"

"You did _WHAT_?!" Chase and Aisha exclaimed in unison.

"I was curious about the whole Shen Gong Wu bonding thing and I wanted to test it out. So I stole the Changing Chopsticks from the monks and used them on the Serpent's Tail to shrink it so I could swallow it," Chase's apprentice explained.

Aisha face palmed herself and Chase rubbed the area on his face between his eyes. "Please tell me that this is just one of your awful jokes, Spicer," Chase replied with irritation.

"Nope, this is definitely not a joke."

"Oh God!" Aisha sighed and threw her hands in the air.

"What is a Shen Gong Wu?" Chantelle asked.

"Just some powerful Chinese mystical objects that should _not_ be ingested," her older sister explained.

"Well is he going to die?"

Aisha shrugged and look to Chase. "Sadly… no, he'll live. This Shen Gong Wu isn't particularly dangerous as long as it does not activate while he's leaning on any railings…or windows… or while he's in an elevator…"

"Thanks, Chase…" Jack mumbled sarcastically as he took an ice pack from Chantelle and placed it on his lower back while she placed the other ice pack on the back of his head.

"Hey! I warned you about what could happen, kid. You brought this on yourself."

"Meh, it'll be out of my system soon enough," Jack waved.

"Or not," Chase added.

"What?" Jack asked as Aisha pointed to the bindi on her forehead.

"Oh right! You've had that for almost all of your life, soeur," Chantelle said.

"Yep, remember Jack, I've had this for about _1,500 years_."

Although no one thought it was possible, Jack's face found a way to become even paler as fear and realization hit him. He might be stuck with this Shen Gong Wu inside of him forever.

"Well, I'm exhausted," Chase smirked at his apprentice's horror.

"Me too," Aisha yawned. "Goodnight, you two love birds. And Jack, try to not fall through any more furniture and floors til we get back home please."

The pair left Jack and Chantelle alone in the kitchen.

"Well, this is embarrassing," Jack blushed.

The blonde woman burst out into the most angelic-sounding laughter that Jack had ever heard. "This has been…interesting. And très mignon."

"What does 'très mignon' mean?" the redheaded boy questioned.

"It means, 'very cute'," the French woman answered.

"Oh! Thank you! Well you are très mignon, too."

- - - THE NEXT DAY - - -

The house was alive and bustling that Thanksgiving morning as the family and their guests busied themselves with preparations for the day. After a sweet breakfast of French toast and cinnamon rolls, the large group gathered in the living room to watch the Macy's Day Parade on the flat screen TV that was magically poofed into the room. Once the parade was over, they split up and started cooking and setting up for dinner.

The next thing that anyone knew, it was just after 6 o'clock when Isabella's brother and sister arrived with more food.

"Are you sure that everything will fit on the table, Tati Mira?" Chantel asked as her aunt and uncle brought in a pot of paella and full roasted pig.

The tall, pale woman with the same bright green eyes as her twin brother smiled at her. "Do you doubt my capabilities, sobrina?"

The French woman put up her hands in defense, "NO! Absolutely not, Tati! It's just that there are so many more people this year. That's all!"

"Good! Now, pone esta olla en la mesa para mi, por favor."

"Oui, Tati."

And within the hour, the family was all seated at the table, enjoying their Thanksgiving feast.

"Long time no see, Chase!" Aisha's uncle, Emilio, laughed with his Spanish accent. He was a rather eccentric man with dark brown hair. "Congratulations on _finally _reuniting with my niece. You look well, I see."

"Thank you. And you look well also, Emilio," Chase responded with some tension; Emilio did not have to have to comment on his relationship with Aisha... But aside from a few grey strands of hair like his sisters, Aisha's uncle hadn't aged a day since he last saw him at Aisha's surprise birthday party 1,500 years ago. "How is the school doing?"

"Oh yes! It is going very well, thank you. Which reminds me, Courtney, have you decided where you were going to go?"

His great-niece paused before answering. "Well right now, I'm stuck between your school and… Hogwarts…"

"Hogwarts?" Emilio repeated. He turned to his sister who was trying to conceal her laughter at her twin brother's disbelief. "Hogwarts? . . . Why on Earth would you want to go there?"

". . . J.K. Rowling. . ." Courtney replied as she looked down at her plate.

"Wait! Hogwarts is _real?_" Jack asked.

"Of course Hogwarts is real. And so it Beauxbatons in France, our school, La Reina de Las Brujas, in Espana, and others all over the world," Emilio answered.

"So witches and wizards and all that stuff really exists?" Jack wondered.

Chase, who was sitting right next to the red head, smacked him on the back of the head. "Don't be so stupid, Jack! You've been involved in the magical world for more than four years now. Have you not noticed that Wuya is a witch?"

"She's also a bitch," all of the women muttered in unison. Everyone paused and looked around at each other before all of the adults burst out into laughter; each having had their own experiences with the Heylin witch.

And dinner continued on smoothly with a lot of conversing, eating, and laughing. Once most of the food was gone, the table was cleared and reset for the large dessert spread of cakes, cookies, and small personal apple pies for each guest.

When everyone was back in their seats, Isabella rose from her chair at the head of the table with her glass of champagne.

"I am so glad and thankful that everyone was able to make it out this year. It touches me right at my soul to know that I have so many loved ones who I can share this life with," the sorceress wiped a falling tear. "A la familia!"

"A la familia!" the adult guests repeated, raising their glasses in the toast. Then dessert commenced.

Just as everyone was starting to finish with their last course, Chase stood up from his seat and the room fell quiet. "I would like to thank you all for being so kind and welcoming to myself, Kiara, and Jack, as though you really had much of a choice," the family laughed a bit at this, "and for allowing us into your hearts," he glanced at Jack and Chantelle. "I think that I enjoy this situation and after much thought, I have finally come to the decision to makes this a permanent arrangement. So with all of this in mind," he turned to Aisha and took her hands in his as he bent down on one knee, "Aisha Juliana Katar, will you marry me?" Aisha and everyone else in the room froze with a unified gasp.

And after a few moments of antagonizing silence, Aisha's eyes welled up with tears as she excitedly nodded, "Yes! Absolutely! Yes!"

Chase let out a small sigh of relief as he pulled a small black box from his back pocket and opened it. Aisha sobbed and her relatives cheered as Chase slid the platinum ring onto her left ring finger. The young woman was enamored with her newest piece of jewelry; its diamonds were in a three stone setting and its band was channel set with smaller red rubies. She looked up from her ring to her new fiancé and fell into his arms in happiness.

"To Chase and Aisha!"

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**OKAY! So sorry about that last argument, BUUTTTT THEY'RE ENGAGED NOW SO WHO CARES! WOOHHHH!**

**Thank you!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Yes, I know... It's been waaayyy too long since I last updated...Please blame my school, my computer who's monitor decided to stop working one day that I haven't gotten around to replacing yet, and my ability to be easily distracted as I accidentally started writing a new story for One Piece that shouldn't have... I was also gonna try to wait until I had the next chapter finsihed so I could post them on the same day... but nah, it'll take too long and I feel horrible about taking this long for this.**

**Review Responses (in case I didn't answer any):**

**Dire Heart**: Hahaha! No, this absolutely is not the end yet. I don't expect this to end for another year or so XD So bare with me please!

**Acro111**: Yeah, I know right? It is about damn time that I finally get these two hitched!

**Guest** 1: Aisha's family tree is a bit complex so I'm gonna try to explain this as least confusingly as possible. Okay so Aisha's parents are Ramed (who's from India) and Isabella (who's from Spain). Now, we know that Ramed died some 1500 years ago, so of course Isabella's been remarried a few times XD Next was to Amaya's father (who's also Spanish) some 100 years later, then 800 years later to Mali's father (who's of a Southeast Asian descent that I haven't decided on), and then 200 years after Mali's father to Jacques & Chantelle's father (who was French). So Aisha and her siblings are all half Spanish which is why they tend to throw around alot of Spanish words.

**Guest** 2: Awww! Thank you! I seriously wish I wasn't such a procrastinator on writing this. I'm so soorryy!

**But yeah, thank you guys for the views and reviews! It means alot to me! Keep 'em coming!**

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**The Past is Back**

**Chapter 19**

"OH MY GOD!" Aisha shouted as she was suddenly sat up from her sleep.

"What?! What's wrong?" the ever vigilant Chase Young exclaimed as he jolted awake.

"We're getting married!" his fiance replied with realization.

The warlord's face fell into a look of complete annoyance. ". . . Yes, my love, we have been engaged for about a week now... Was it absolutely necessary for you to remind me of this at two in the morning?" he droned.

"How are you not _excited_ about this?"

"Because I am tired," Chase answered as he tucked himself back under his blankets and turned to his side, facing away from her.

"Fine! I better not hear one single complaint about how many doves there are or how pink our wedding is," Aisha said as she threw on her robe, her slippers and then pulled up a pair of sweatpants under her nightgown.

"You wouldn't dare," Chase threatened from his cocoon of blankets.

"Would I?" she questioned back at him before leaving the room. The warlord groaned in response before he fell back asleep

- - - DINNING ROOM - - -

It was now a little after 8 am when Chase entered the dinning room for breakfast. After falling back asleep after Aisha's rude awakening, he got up a few hours later, meditated, and then showered for breakfast.

"Good morning, Abidah!" Kiara greeted him as she reached across the table for a bagel.

"Good morning, Ae Cha," Chase replied back to her before turning his attention to his fiance. "What are you doing?"

Aisha was sitting on the floor surrounded by magazines and mail. "I have a wedding to plan! So I had a few servants get me as many magazines and stuff that you had lying around here for ideas."

"But I am not subscribed to any wedding magazines. . ." Chase replied with some uneasiness.

"I am . . ." Kiara said quietly as she nibbled on her bagel. "I've been planning your wedding for a while now..."

Chase just sighed as he went to his seat and started on his Lao Mang Long Soup.

"Really? I need to see what you've come up with. Oh! And this is for you," Aisha said as she handed him a sealed envelope. "What's the I.A.E.?"

"Burn it."

"But you didn't even-"

"I said: burn it," the warlord repeated with agitation.

"...Fine, but after I open it," Aisha responded as she proceeded to rip the envelope apart. "To The Prince of Darkness, Lord of the Eastern Realm, Chase Young... Seriously? Is that your title?"

"Part of it," her fiance answered before returning to his soup.

"You and one guest are cordially invited to the I.A.E.'s 30th Semi-centennial Gala that is being celebrated in your honor. This year's event will take place in the Taj Mahal in India on December 10th. Presentations and introductions will begin promptly at 7.30 pm. Please respond by October 20th." Aisha looked up at Chase after she finished reading the golden words. "You were supposed to respond over a month ago, Chase! And this is dated from March!"

Chase shrugged. "I had better things to do than read that letter. And I have no intention of going."

"He hasn't gone to any of them, and this is the tenth time that he's their honorary guest," Kiara added.

"Why haven't you gone?"

"I have not attended one of these... 'parties' since the last one that you and I went to."

"Oh," Aisha replied with some sadness. She really would have liked to go out to a social event, but now with the renewed memories of the last evil soiree she went to, it didn't seem like a good idea to go to another one. She looked up from the letter as someone joined them in the room. "Good morning, Jack!"

"Welcome back from your trip, Spicer. Did you and Chantelle enjoy yourselves?" Chase added with a smirk.

His apprentice took his seat at the table as he thought of a good answer, but all he could remember at the moment was alot of pale skin, blonde hair, croissants, wine, and moaning... "I honestly can't remember anything of the last few days..."

"Well you look a bit flushed," Aisha observed as she got up and placed the back of her hand on the boy's forehead. "Is your cut healing correctly?"

"That was a perfect incision," Chase defended as Jack lifted the bottom of his shirt to show a patch of gauze with a thin red line running down it vertically. They were referring to Jack's "surgery" the day they came back from Aisha's mother's house. Chase, rather enthusiastically, named himself the chief surgeon for the operation and the next thing anyone knew, Jack was strapped onto an operating table and Chase was wielding an oddly large scalpel. It took almost half an hour for Jack and Aisha to convince Chase into giving the red-head some anesthesia and an X-ray before cutting him open to remove the Serpent's Tail.

"Well everything looks fine; the stitches are still in place and nothing's any weird color," Aisha commented as she replaced the gauze that she moved to check the cut. "You've been taking the meds that the doctor gave you right?"

Jack nodded. "Ohhh, but you just spent a few days with Chantelle. . . in France . . . drinking a lot of alcohol," Aisha realized. "Yeah, alcohol and your antibiotics and pain meds definitely don't go together well."

The red-headed boy just shrugged. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask you about something. After dinner on Thanksgiving, I was talking to your uncle and he mentioned something about me surviving something or another that had to do with Chantelle. Actually, I really have no idea what he was saying, his accent is so thick!"

Aisha's eyes went wide and she hesitated a bit before she answered. "Umm, yeah, don't worry too much about it. He was probably just drunk and trying to make a joke!"

"Oh yeah, maybe..." Jack replied.

"Yeah! And you're probably just red from all of the wine and stuff. You should be fine in a few days," the woman added quickly as she began to pick up her magazines from the floor. "So umm, I will see you guys later. I gotta take care of some wedding stuff. Come, Kiara."

The little girl looked up from her bowl of cereal with some surprise when she heard her name as she wasn't paying the other much attention. She then looked to Aisha and then to Chase, who just shrugged in response before returning to his own breakfast. "Okay," she responded and then grabbed a couple of muffins and her glass of orange juice before following her mother out of the room.

- - - LATER THAT NIGHT - - -

"So what was that about earlier today?" Chase asked as he entered his bedroom and began to change into his pajamas.

"What was what about?" Aisha replied. She was seated on the bed, surrounded by papers.

"Whatever it was that your uncle told Spicer about your sister."

"Oh... that," she replied with annoyance. "It's nothing serious. Don't worry about it."

"Have I ever told you that I never believe you when you tell me to not worry about things?" the warlord responded as he walked into the bathroom and turned on the faucet.

Aisha sighed and tapped her pen on a piece of paper as she waited for him to return. This was going to be an annoying conversation.

"Jack might get eaten," she confessed quickly as Chase walked over to his side of their bed.

"What?!"

"There's a..._ chance_ that Jack might be eaten."

"By your sister?"

"... Yes," Aisha answered simply. There was a period of silence when Chase looked at her expectantly while Aisha looked confused.

"Do you plan on explaining to me why your sister might eat my apprentice?" he spelled out for her.

"Oh, umm, well... We don't know," she admitted; Chase sighed in frustration. "She's had this strange tendency to sometimes eat her mates... or suck them dry of their blood..."

"Aisha!"

"It was only a real issue if they were human!"

"Jack is human!" Aisha had nothing to say. "And you let him spend four days with her, alone, in France!"

"Well we never thought it was too big of a deal... It's how we survive..."

"Killing strangers is one thing, but killing your significant other is completely different."

"I don't know, she's mentioned something about fattening them up so she doesn't have to feed for months at a time..."

"Well I expect that you and Jack will have a long discussion about this tomorrow," Chase remarked as he took his spot next to her on their bed.

"Why me? He's your apprentice, so he's your responsibility."

"Yes, but he knows nothing about you and your kind and you're the one who invited him to Thanksgiving dinner _and_ instigated his and Chantelle's little fling."

Aisha sighed, "Fine... I'll have Chantelle talk to him, she's stopping by tomorrow anyway."

Chase's face displayed some confusion, "Why?"

"She's helping me and Kiara plan the wedding."

"Alright, remind me in the morning, I have to make sure that she is not fried at the entryway."

"Chase, what?!"

"Just some safety protocols since we still do not know of Hannibal and Wuya's whereabouts," the immortal answered simply as he picked up a sheet of paper that only had the title "VENUE?" printed on it at the top. "How is this going by the way?"

"Barely!" his fiance exclaimed as she threw her hands in the air, surprising Chase. "The only things that I've decided on were that Mamma and Mali are in charge of providing the alcohol and favors which will be bottles of Mamma's spiced wines; and that Kiara and Chantelle are in charge of the flowers and decor. Why did you never tell me that Kiara picked up botany? She's really good at it."

Chase was going through her papers as he replied, "There are many things that we have not had a chance to discuss yet." He picked up a paper labeled "FOOD & DRINKS" that had "Mamma and Mali- Alcohol" written on it. "Our chefs will provide the food," he stated.

"Oh! I didn't even think of that. Thanks..." she responded as she took the paper from Chase and scribbled the idea on it. "I'll setup a tasting one day. Is there anything specific that you want to have that night?

"I definitely want egg rolls, dim sum would be good... What are those things that Americans eat? It's small with tomato sauce and cheese?"

"Pizza?"

"No, it's not a triangle, its round and disk shaped."

"Oh! Pizza bagels?"

"Yes, pizza bagels. Add those to the list."

Aisha looked at him with a smirk, "Well aren't you a classy boy?"

"I don't care, I want pizza bagels."

"Okay!" the young woman laughed as she added her fiance's requests onto the paper. "Maybe we'll do all those as passed hors d'oeuvres during cocktail hour. Can we have shrimp, too? Oh! And crab cakes!"

"Add them on."

"Yes! Okay, so what about dinner? Should we do the whole soup, salad, entree, dessert thing?"

"Get rid of the soup and we'll do a plated dinner with a dessert buffet. I would also like a chocolate fountain."

"Chocolate fountain," Aisha repeated as she wrote down the words.

"I would like one as big as this bed," the warlord added.

His lover paused and scanned their bed before turning to him and asking, "Are you serious?"

"Completely," Chase answered flatly.

"What do you plan on doing? Swimming in it?"

"That is a ridiculous assumption."

"That's a ridiculous request! For one thing, that's such a waste of chocolate, and secondly, where are you going to find a chocolate fountain that big?"

"I will have someone build it, of course."

"Of course," Aisha mocked as she added his request. "Do you know what flavor cake we should get?"

"Vanilla, red velvet, and chocolate descending in that order."

"Yeah, that'll work, each tier will be a different flavor."

"No, I meant for all three flavors to be in each tier."

"... Wow, you have a crazy sweet tooth. So you want triple layer tiers?"

"Yes, with chocolate filling in between each layer and chocolate frosting or fondant or whatever it's called," Chase explained casually.

Aisha shrugged and wrote down his idea for their cake. "Okay, but i don't think that the outer frosting or fondant will go well with our red and black color scheme... We'll figure it out later."

Chase sighed with satisfaction as he placed his hands behind his head and laid back against their bed's black, leather headboard. "This wedding planning process is not all that difficult. What have you been doing for the past thirteen hours?"

"Well, this is much easier when you have your _future spouse helping you_, and the food's the easy part. I haven't even gotten to the venue and those details, the guest list and seating arrangements, what we're wearing, we have to figure out what the fucking invitations will look like-"

"Did you even come up with a date yet?"

"Ummm, I'm thinking somewhere between mid-January and February. I want a winter wedding, but Amaya doesn't want to be a pregnant bridesmaid and I don't think I could plan a wedding for all of these people in less than a month."

"We're having a wedding party?" Chase asked with disgust.

"Yes, my family has been waiting for this for forever," Aisha pointed out.

"Fine. And what do you mean by 'all of these people'? How many guests do you plan on inviting?"

"Well there's my entire family and friends. Then there's the monks; how are we counting your warriors? And then I'm pretty sure that you have quite a few 'allies' and 'business acquaintances' that will hear about this and will have to be invited to keep them in good favor," she counted out for him.

Chase reached forward and began to gather up her papers. "Alright, we are finished for tonight."

"But we've barely started," Aisha said as she helplessly watched him put her pile of papers and pen in a drawer in his nightstand.

"I think that we've gotten pretty far for the first day. We'll figure out the food during the next few days and then I will help you with the guest list ... sometime later."

"If you insist..." she sighed and she slid herself under the blankets.

- - - SOMETIME LATER - - -

"Chase! Chase!"

_'Shit! This is absolutely ridiculous! I should not be hiding in my own home!'_ Chase thought after he ducked into a random room and shut the door.

They were getting closer now; there were just two weeks left until their wedding and the pressure was really getting to Aisha, which for some reason meant that he had to deal with her border lining psychotic, perfectionist episodes. Can I put this person at the same table as this person? Is the centerpiece too low? Why do you refuse to get married in a church?

_'What have I gotten myself into?'_ the mighty warlord thought to himself in dismay as he heard his beloved's footsteps run past the room that he was hiding in. _'To whatever gods that exist and that I haven't pissed off yet, please spare all of our lives...and our sanity...'_

He waited a few more minutes before he cautiously opened the door and looked both ways down the hall before exiting the room...

"Where the hell is your father?" Aisha asked as she burst into her designated wedding planning room.

Kiara sighed and pulled her adoptive mother to sit on the couch. "Mommy, it's going to be okay. I'm sure he'll be fine with whatever final decisions we end up making."

"But they're the most important ones! Like where we're getting married! The guests need to know where to go! And he needs to help me out with the seating arrangements; with all of the evil assholes coming, I don't want a war starting at my damn wedding!"

"Here Aisha, have some wine," her sister Chantelle offered her a glass of red wine with a smile.

"But I don't want wine... I want to finish planning my wedding . . . Oh who am I kidding, I want wine!" Aisha replied and quickly downed the alcohol. "May I have another?"

"Please be careful Mommy, it's only 11 am..." Kiara sighed.

"Don't start getting worried til she's on her third bottle, Kiki," Mali said to her from the other side of the room. Mali and Chantelle had been staying with Chase, Aisha, and Kiara for a week now, volunteering to help out with the wedding planning and to keep Aisha calm. . . Or at least try to anyway. And Mali was now looking at the pictures of their possible venue options on the large touch screen monitor that Jack had installed in the room. "Aisha, I really don't think it's that big of a deal if you don't get married in a church... You've already broken plenty of the Catholic Church's rules, this one won't be the straw that breaks the camel's back..."

Her older sister sighed in defeat. "Yeah I know, I just really wanted a church though..."

"Was this it?" Mali asked when she paused on a photo of a large, glass walled, modern-looking structure set in the middle of a forest.

"Yeah, that's the Thorncrown Chapel in Arkansas... I really liked how open and not-stuffy it looks. But again, it's a church in which Chase 'cannot step foot in without getting burned into oblivion' or some shit," Aisha replied.

Her two sisters and her daughter just looked at her in shock.

"Well that actually makes alot of sense...considering he's evil and all..." Chantelle commented.

"Yeah, and it seems like a pretty reasonable excuse for not getting married in a church... How can you be mad at him for that?" Mali added.

Aisha just shrugged. "I _really_ want a church... But that one's too small anyway... it only seats like 100 people..."

"We can always rebuild it... bigger, and someplace else..." Mali suggested.

Chantelle smiled at her sister's thought, "Chase_ does_ have thousands of able-bodied warriors who I'm sure can recreate it wherever you want."

"_And_ you won't have to worry about the fact that it's a church," Kiara added, "it won't be on hallowed ground, so Abidah and the other guests won't have to worry."

Aisha was tearing up as her family explained the possibility to her. "This is why I love you guys!" She shouted in gratitude. "Quick print it out, I'll have someone run it over to Chase's architects and interior decorators." At that moment, a lion appeared in the room, fully aware that it was needed. Mali handed the printed out picture to Aisha who then passed it on to the lion. "Here you go. And tell them to make sure that it seats at least 1,000 people," she told it and the feline nodded before it disappeared to do it's task.

"When was the guest list up to a thousand people?" Chantelle asked.

"We originally wrote out a list of about 1,000 people, but we're only expecting about 700, thank God. But you never know who might show," Aisha explained as she walked over to the sample of the reception tables. It was a round table that seated ten people. Following her black, red, and white color scheme, the tablecloth was white with black damask printing and there was a tall black vase with red roses as it's centerpiece. The ten chairs had red chair covers and were tied with black ribbon. "You know, the more I look at this, the more I hate it..."

Chantelle, Mali, and Kiara all looked at each other in fear. This was not the time for her to be changing things around...

"I think it looks fine..." Kiara cautiously offered.

Her mother paused for a few more moments as she studied the table. "Nope, I hate it." She then went over to the monitor and started to flip through her options. Chase had infused the piece of technology with his magic, so that things could be materialized within the citadel. Some twenty minutes later, Aisha had completed three new table settings; and when she looked at her new creations, she smiled. All three of the tables were long and rectangular with black tablecloths and their chairs were black with white cushions. Each plate setting now had a red fabric napkin and red square plate chargers. There were now three centerpiece settings across the tables, each with three water-filled glass, rectangular vases of varying heights with roses floating in them and uplighted-by tealights. The only difference among the three tables were the colors of their table runners. One had a white runner, another had a red runner, and the third had a runner that was white with back damask printing, like the original table's tablecloth.

The other girls in the room sighed in relief that this change didn't turn out to be a disaster.

"Oh these are nice," Chantelle said. "But wait, you're doing... 20 people per table?"

"Yeah, I figured that it would cut back on some seating confusion."'

"I don't know..." Chantelle replied with hesitation.

"Are they even gonna fit in the room?" Mali asked.

"I don't see why not, we've just cut back on the amount of tables we'd need by half," Aisha answered.

"Assuming for a thousand people at the reception... that's fifty tables," Kiara said when she finished the math.

"See? I would've needed a hundred before," Aisha defended. Her sisters simply shrugged at her before moving on.

Mali went back over to the screen and pulled up their checklist. "Okay, so far we've got the cake, the food and alcohol done, the table settings are finished, the flowers are done. Wait, so we don't have to worry about flowers for the church? We're just doing the wedding party's and centerpiece flowers?"

"Yeah, I like the way the church looks without all that extra stuff," Aisha answered as she finished off the first bottle of wine.

"Okay, so flowers are done," Mali continued. "The ceremony and reception spaces are... decided on. Favors... you're doing favors? For all of those guests?"

"Remember Mali? You and Mama are in charge of that. It's gonna be wine and champagne bottles."

"Oh right" Mali remembered.

"So that leaves our clothes and the seating arrangements for us to finish," Chantelle said, finishing up the list just before there was a knock at the door.

"Oh, that's not so bad when you look at the whole picture," Aisha noted before going to answer the door. A female servant walked into the room carrying a large zipped up package by its hanger, followed by three other women carrying similarly shaped packages.

"You're timing is perfect! Girls, the dresses are here!" Aisha clapped excitedly; this was going to be the first fitting of her complete dress. "You guys try on your dresses first."

A few minutes after they had disappeared behind a few folding panels towards the back of the room, Chantelle, Mali, and Kiara reappeared wearing their bridal party dresses.

"I'm gonna cry again, guys," Aisha announced when she saw them. Chantelle and Mali had on simple, somewhat fitted black dresses that stopped just below their knees while Kiara's flower girl dress was also black with an A-line form that flowed down to the floor with a red sash around her waist. "You guys did such an amazing job! Thank you so much!" Aisha said to the servants who brought the dresses in. They all bowed at their mistress's praise.

"Don't cry yet, you still have to try on yours," Mali told her as they went to sit back on the couch. If it was possible, Aisha's smile got wider as she and the servant carrying the the largest concealed package walked behind the folding panels.

After a few minutes, she walked from behind the panels to the center of the room with tears streaming from her eyes. "It's beautiful!" she sobbed as she ran her hands all over the gown.

Her sisters and Kiara all squealed in delight and ran over to hug her and join in her tears of happiness.

That's when the door opened.

"Aisha, what is this about you wanting to build a church?" Chase asked as he stepped into the room looking down at a paper in his hand. When he looked up from it, he saw Mali, Chantelle, and Kiara all huddled around Aisha who was wearing something white and all four girls had tear stained faces...

That, in a flash, turned to faces of fury...

"What are you doing in here?"

"You can't be in here!"

"Chase! Get the fuck out!"

These and similar threats and shoes and books were literally thrown at the warlord until he quickly backtracked out of the room and into the hallway.

He stood there in silence for a few moments as he allowed the recent occurrences sink into his brain. Had he just been kicked out of a room in his own home? What the hell were they doing in there? Why were they so angry?

His own anger began to bubble up inside of him, but then he paused and decided that the issue would just have to be resolved later on... when his fiance wasn't raging mad...

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**Well that was fun. THE WEDDING'S ALMOST HERE! But don't worry, this story is no where near finished so we will have lots of more time together guys!**

**SEE YOU LATER!**


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